Class number problem

Abstract: a result first proved by Heilbronn [H] in 1934. The Disquisitiones also contains tables of binary quadratic forms with small class numbers (actually tables of imaginary quadratic fields of small class number with even discriminant which is a much easier problem to deal with) and Gauss conjectured that his tables were complete. In modern parlance, we can rewrite Gauss’ tables (we are including both even and odd discriminants) in the following form.

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Abstract: I. A Book's History. - C. Goldstein, N. Schappacher. II. Algebraic Equations, Quadratic Forms, Higher Congruences: Key Mathematical Techniques of the Disquistiones. - O. Neumann: The Disquisitiones Arithmeticae and the Theory of Equations.- H.M. Edwards: Composition of Binary Quadratic Forms and the Foundations of Mathematics.- D. Fenster, J. Schwermer: Composition of Quadratic Forms: An Algebraic Perspective.- G. Frei: Gauss's Unpublished Section Eight: On the Way to Function Fields over a Finite Field.- III. The German Reception of the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae: Institutions and Ideas. - H. Pieper: A Network of Scientific Philanthropy: Humboldt's Relations with Number Theorists.- J. Ferreiros: The Rise of Pure Mathematics as Arithmetic after Gauss.- IV. Complex Numbers and Complex Functions in Arithmetic.- R. Bolling: From Reciprocity Laws to Ideal Numbers: An (Un)Known 1844 Manuscript by E.E. Kummer.- C. Houzel: Elliptic Functions and Arithmetic. V. Numbers as Model Objects of Mathematics.- J. Boniface: The Concept of Number from Gauss to Kronecker.- B. Petri, N. Schappacher: On Arithmetization. VI. Number Theory in France in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century.- C. Goldstein: Hermitian Forms of Reading the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae.- A.-M. Decaillot: Number Theory at the Association francaise pour l'avancement des sciences.- VII. Spotlighting Some Later Reactions.- A. Brigaglia: An Overview on Italian Arithmeitc after the Disquistiones Arithmeticae. P. Piazza: Zolotarev's Theory of Algebraic Numbers.- D. Fenster: Gauss Goes West: The Reception of the Disquistiones Arithmeticae in the USA. VIII. Gauss's Theorem in the Long Run: Three Case Studies.- J. Schwermer: Reduction Theory of Quadratic Forms: Toward Raumliche Anschauung in Minkowski's Early Work.- S. J. Patterson: Gauss Sums.- F. Lemmermeyer: The Principal Genus Theorem.- List of Illustrations.- Index.- Author's Addresses.