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Positive values of indefinite quadratic forms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2010

R. J. Cook
Affiliation:
Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN.
S. Raghavan
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Bombay 400 005, India.
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Extract

Let

be a real quadratic form in n variables with integral coefficients (i.e., 2fij ε ℤ, fiiε ℤ.) and determinant D ≠ O. A well-known theorem of Cassels [1] states that if the equation f = 0 is properly soluble in integers x1 … , xn then there is a solution satisfying

where F = max |fij and we use the «-notation with an implicit factor depending only on n. More recently it has been shown that f has n linearly independent zeros x1 …, xn satisfying

(see [2, 3 and 6])

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University College London 1986

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References

1.Cassels, J. W. S.. Bounds for the least solutions of homogeneous quadratic equations. Proc. Camb. Phil Soc, 51 (1955), 262264; Addendum, Proc. Camb. Phil Soc, 52 (1956), 604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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