Is there a standard way to read the Legendre symbol?

Is there any standard way to read (in English) the Legendre symbol (a|p) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendre_symbol), say, similar to "a choose b" which is used for the binomial coefficients?

• I wouldn't mind knowing how this is read in other languages, by the way :) Feb 16, 2010 at 15:02
• I am almost certain that the answer to your question is "no", and for everyone that posts an answer saying "well I say it this way" this is in some sense more evidence that the answer really is "no". Isn't that strange? Feb 16, 2010 at 15:23
• I think Kevin is correct. (As for myself, I say "the Legendre symbol of a with respect to p", because I don't know what else one is suppose to say.) Feb 16, 2010 at 15:34
• Mariano: In German,(a|b) is read "a nach b", according to a German mathematician who asked me the original question. Feb 16, 2010 at 16:02

• To use this in the statement of quadratic reciprocity, you'd have to talk about QR $p$ $q$ and QR $q$ $p$, which don't sound good to me. (An issue that came up in my thesis: If $\ell$ and $p$ are already taken for primes, and $q$ is already taken for a prime power, what is the notation for anotheer prime?) Jun 14, 2011 at 22:07