Skip to main content
Log in

Positive definite quadratic forms representing integers of the form an 2+b

  • Published:
The Ramanujan Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

For any subset S of positive integers, a positive definite integral quadratic form is said to be S-universal if it represents every integer in the set S. In this article, we classify all binary S-universal positive definite integral quadratic forms in the case when S=S a ={an 2n≥2} or S=S a,b ={an 2+bn∈ℤ}, where a is a positive integer and ab is a square-free positive integer in the latter case. We also prove that there are only finitely many S a -universal ternary quadratic forms not representing a. Finally, we show that there are exactly 15 ternary diagonal S 1-universal quadratic forms not representing 1.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bhargava, M.: On the Conway–Schneeberger fifteen theorem. In: Quadratic Forms and Their Applications Dublin. Contemporary Math., vol. 272, pp. 27–37. Am. Math. Soc, Providence (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Bhargava, M., Hanke, J.: Universal quadratic forms and the 290 theorem. Invent. Math. (to appear)

  3. Delone, B.N.: Geometry of positive quadratic forms. Usp. Math. Nauk 4 (1938)

  4. Dujella, A., Jadrijević, B.: A family of quartic Thue inequalities. Acta Arith. 111, 61–76 (2004)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Jagy, W.C.: Five regular or nearly-regular ternary quadratic forms. Acta Arith. 77, 361–367 (1996)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Kaplansky, I.: Ternary positive forms that represent all odd positive integers. Acta Arith. 120, 209–214 (1995)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Kim, B.M., Kim, M.-H., Oh, B.-K.: A finiteness theorem for representability of quadratic forms by forms. J. Reine Angew. Math. 581, 23–30 (2005)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Kitaoka, Y.: Arithmetic of Quadratic Forms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1993)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Oh, B.-K.: Representations of arithmetic progressions by positive definite quadratic forms. Int. J. Number Theory doi:10.1142/S1793042111004915

  10. O’Meara, O.T.: Introduction to Quadratic Forms. Springer, New York (1963)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. Watson, G.L.: Determination of a binary quadratic form by its values at integer points. Mathematika 26, 72–75 (1979)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Byeong-Kweon Oh.

Additional information

Y.-S. Ji and M.-H. Kim were supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (2010-0015670).

B.-K. Oh was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (No. 2010-0019516).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ji, YS., Kim, MH. & Oh, BK. Positive definite quadratic forms representing integers of the form an 2+b . Ramanujan J 27, 329–342 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11139-011-9323-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11139-011-9323-0

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification (2000)

Navigation