English

Refining Lagrange's four-square theorem

Number Theory 2017-01-17 v9

Abstract

Lagrange's four-square theorem asserts that any nN={0,1,2,}n\in\mathbb N=\{0,1,2,\ldots\} can be written as the sum of four squares. This can be further refined in various ways. We show that any nNn\in\mathbb N can be written as x2+y2+z2+w2x^2+y^2+z^2+w^2 with x,y,z,wZx,y,z,w\in\mathbb Z such that x+y+zx+y+z (or x+2yx+2y, x+y+2zx+y+2z) is a square (or a cube). We also prove that any nNn\in\mathbb N can be written as x2+y2+z2+w2x^2+y^2+z^2+w^2 with x,y,z,wNx,y,z,w\in\mathbb N such that P(x,y,z)P(x,y,z) is a square, whenever P(x,y,z)P(x,y,z) is among the polynomials \begin{gather*} x,\ 2x,\ x-y,\ 2x-2y,\ a(x^2-y^2)\ (a=1,2,3),\ x^2-3y^2,\ 3x^2-2y^2, \\x^2+ky^2\ (k=2,3,5,6,8,12),\ (x+4y+4z)^2+(9x+3y+3z)^2, \\x^2y^2+y^2z^2+z^2x^2,\ x^4+8y^3z+8yz^3, x^4+16y^3z+64yz^3. \end{gather*} We also pose some conjectures for further research; for example, our 1-3-5-Conjecture states that any nNn\in\mathbb N can be written as x2+y2+z2+w2x^2+y^2+z^2+w^2 with x,y,z,wNx,y,z,w\in\mathbb N such that x+3y+5zx+3y+5z is a square.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1604.06723,
  title  = {Refining Lagrange's four-square theorem},
  author = {Zhi-Wei Sun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.06723},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

24 pages, final published version

R2 v1 2026-06-22T13:38:46.712Z