English

Higher Descent on Pell Conics I. From Legendre to Selmer

Number Theory 2007-05-23 v1 History and Overview

Abstract

This article deals with the history of certain aspects of the Pell equation X2^2 - D y2^2 = 4. We briefly discuss explicit units, and then study the history of Legendre's equations ax2^2 - b y2^2 = 4 with ab=D.

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0311309,
  title  = {Higher Descent on Pell Conics I. From Legendre to Selmer},
  author = {Franz Lemmermeyer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0311309},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

19 pages, 2 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-22T16:59:47.699Z