Let
q be a power of an odd prime. In the finite field GF(
q) the quadratic
character χ(
a) indicates whether the element
a is zero, a non-zero
square, or a non-square: :\chi(a) = \begin{cases} 0 & \text{if }a = 0\\ 1 & \text{if }a = b^2\text{ for some non-zero }b \in \mathrm{GF}(q)\\ -1 & \text{if }a\text{ is not the square of any element in }\mathrm{GF}(q).\end{cases} For example, in GF(7) the non-zero squares are 1 = 12 = 62, 4 = 22 = 52, and 2 = 32 = 42. Hence χ(0) = 0, χ(1) = χ(2) = χ(4) = 1, and χ(3) = χ(5) = χ(6) = −1. The
Jacobsthal matrix
Q for GF(
q) is the
q ×
q matrix with rows and columns indexed by elements of GF(
q) such that the entry in row
a and column
b is χ(
a −
b). For example, in GF(7), if the rows and columns of the Jacobsthal matrix are indexed by the
field elements 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, then :Q = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & -1 & -1 & 1 & -1 & 1 & 1\\ 1 & 0 & -1 & -1 & 1 & -1 & 1\\ 1 & 1 & 0 & -1 & -1 & 1 & -1\\ -1 & 1 & 1 & 0 & -1 & -1 & 1\\ 1 & -1 & 1 & 1 & 0 & -1 & -1\\ -1 & 1 & -1 & 1 & 1 & 0 & -1\\ -1 & -1 & 1 & -1 & 1 & 1 & 0\end{bmatrix}. The Jacobsthal matrix has the properties
QQT =
qI −
J and
QJ =
JQ = 0 where
I is the
q ×
q identity matrix and
J is the
q ×
q all 1 matrix. If
q is congruent to 1 mod 4 then −1 is a square in GF(
q) which implies that
Q is a
symmetric matrix. If
q is congruent to 3 mod 4 then −1 is not a square, and
Q is a
skew-symmetric matrix. When
q is a prime number and rows and columns are indexed by field elements in the usual 0, 1, 2, … order,
Q is a
circulant matrix. That is, each row is obtained from the row above by
cyclic permutation. ==Paley construction I==