English

Equality of Dedekind sums modulo 24$\mathbb Z$

Number Theory 2016-09-28 v1

Abstract

Let S(a,b)=12s(a,b)S(a,b)=12s(a,b), where s(a,b)s(a,b) denotes the classical Dedekind sum. In a recent note E. Tsukerman gave a necessary and sufficient condition for S(a1,b)S(a2,b)8ZS(a_1,b)-S(a_2,b)\in 8\mathbb Z. In the present paper we show that this condition is equivalent to S(a1,b)S(a2,b)24ZS(a_1,b)-S(a_2,b)\in 24\mathbb Z, provided that 9b9\nmid b. Tsukerman also obtained a congruence mod 8 for bT(a,b)bT(a,b), where T(a,b)T(a,b) is the alternating sum of the partial quotients of the continued fraction expansion of a/ba/b. We show that the respective congruence holds mod 2424 if 3b3\nmid b and mod 7272 if 3b3\mid b.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.08282,
  title  = {Equality of Dedekind sums modulo 24$\mathbb Z$},
  author = {Kurt Girstmair},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.08282},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:02:22.627Z