International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 13 (1990), Issue 1, Pages 1-11
doi:10.1155/S0161171290000011
Research Expository and Survey Articles

Prime valued polynomials and class numbers of quadratic fields

Richard A. Mollin

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Calgary, Calgary T2N 1N4, Alberta, Canada

Received 15 August 1988

Copyright © 1990 Richard A. Mollin. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

It is the purpose of this paper to give a survey of the relationship between the class number one problem for real quadratic fields and prime-producing quadratic polynomials; culminating in an overview of the recent solution to the class number one problem for real quadratic fields of Richaud-Degert type. We conclude with new conjectures, questions and directions.