Course Description
This course is an elementary introduction to number theory with no algebraic prerequisites. Topics covered include primes, congruences, quadratic reciprocity, diophantine equations, irrational numbers, continued fractions, and partitions.
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Lecture Notes
![Plot of points on x-y axis with both straight and curved lines connecting plotted points.](/courses/18-781-theory-of-numbers-spring-2012/bf03a874c1b7c5c3eb194d0086a8a97b_18-781s12.jpg)
Some rational points on the hyperbola x^2 - 2y^2 = 1. The projection from away from (1,0) gives a bijection with the rational points on the y-axis, with the point (0,-m) going to x = (2m^2 + 1)/(2m^2 - 1), y = 2m/(2m^2 - 1). (Image by Abhinav Kumar.)