English

On Dedekind sums with equal values

Number Theory 2014-04-18 v1

Abstract

Dedekind sums s(m,n)s(m,n) occur in many fields of mathematics. Since s(m1,n)=s(m2,n)s(m_1,n)=s(m_2,n) if m1m2m_1\equiv m_2 mod nn, it is natural to ask which of the Dedekind sums s(m,n)s(m,n), 0m<n0\le m<n, take equal values. So far no simple criterion is known by which the equality of s(m1,n)s(m_1,n) and s(m2,n)s(m_2,n) could be decided. In this note we show how to obtain non-obvious examples of equal Dedekind sums. We consider two cases which mark the extreme possibilities for the argument nn, namely, nn a prime power and nn square-free. Whereas we can give a partial overview of equal Dedekind sums in the prime power case, such an overview seems to be much more difficult to obtain in the square-free case.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1404.4428,
  title  = {On Dedekind sums with equal values},
  author = {Kurt Girstmair},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1404.4428},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

8 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-22T03:52:45.333Z