Tunnell's theorem


In number theory, Tunnell's theorem gives a partial resolution to the congruent number problem, and under the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, a full resolution.

Congruent number problem

The congruent number problem asks which positive integers can be the area of a right triangle with all three sides rational. Tunnell's theorem relates this to the number of integral solutions of a few fairly simple Diophantine equations.

Theorem

For a given square-free integer n, define
Tunnell's theorem states that supposing n is a congruent number, if n is odd then 2An = Bn and if n is even then 2Cn = Dn. Conversely, if the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture holds true for elliptic curves of the form, these equalities are sufficient to conclude that n is a congruent number.

History

The theorem is named for Jerrold B. Tunnell, a number theorist at Rutgers University, who proved it in.

Importance

The importance of Tunnell's theorem is that the criterion it gives is testable by a finite calculation. For instance, for a given, the numbers can be calculated by exhaustively searching through in the range.