Legendre symbol

Meaning

Noun

• A mathematical function of an integer and a prime number, written $\backslash left(\{a\; \backslash over\; p\}\backslash right)$, which indicates whether a is a quadratic residue modulo p.

Origin

• Named after French mathematician Adrien-Marie Legendre (1752–1833), who introduced the symbol in 1798 in his work Essai sur la Théorie des Nombres ("Essay on the Theory of Numbers").