Theorems V in [this paper][1] of [L.E. Dickson][2] states that the following two sets are equal. $$E=\{a^2+b^2+2c^2 \ | \ a,b,c \in \mathbb{Z}\} \ \text{ and } \ F=\mathbb{N} \setminus \{4^k(16n+14) \ | \ k,n \in \mathbb{N}\}.$$ Let $\mathbb{A}$ denote $\mathbb{N}$ or $\mathbb{Z}$. Consider the following set (where $u \cdot v$ denotes the usual [dot product][3]): $$E(\mathbb{A}) = \{\|u \|^2 + |u \cdot v| \text{ such that } u,v \in \mathbb{A}^3 \text{ and } \|u \| = \|v \|\}.$$ Let $u= (a,b,c)$, $v = (b,-a,c) \in \mathbb{Z}^3$. Then $\|u \| = \|v \|$ and $\|u \|^2 + |u \cdot v| = a^2+b^2+2c^2.$ It follows that $F= E \subseteq E(\mathbb{Z})$. In fact, Dickson's theorem extends to $E(\mathbb{Z})$, since Philipp Lamp shown below that $E(\mathbb{Z}) = F$ also (as an answer to what was **Question 1** in a previous version). The computation below suggests the following question (checked for integers less than $5936$). > **Question 2**: Is it true that $E(\mathbb{N}) = F \setminus \{ 5, 23, 29, 65, 167 \} $? *Application*: [this answer][4] proves that the form $\| A\|^2$ covers every natural number for $A \in M_3(\mathbb{Z})$. A positive answer to Question 2 would prove this result for $A \in M_3(\mathbb{N})$. ___ *Reformulation of Question 2* Take $u=v \in \mathbb{N}^3$, then $\|u \|^2 + |u \cdot v| = 2 \|u \|^2$, so by [Legendre's three-square theorem][5], $$2\mathbb{N} \setminus \{4^k(16n+14) \ | \ k,n \in \mathbb{N}\} \subset E(\mathbb{N}).$$ So we are reduced to prove that $$2\mathbb{N}+1 \setminus \{ 5, 23, 29, 65, 167 \} \subset E(\mathbb{N}).$$ Now, as pointed out by Philipp Lampe, if $\|u \| = \|v \|$ then $\|u \|^2 + |u \cdot v| = \|u+v \|^2/2$. Then Question 2 can be reformulated as follows: > **Reformulated question**: Is it true that, for $u,v \in \mathbb{N}^3$ with $\|u \| = \|v \|$, the form $\|u+v \|^2/2$ covers every odd > number, except those in $\{ 5, 23, 29, 65, 167 \}$? ___ **Computation** sage: L=[] ....: for a1 in range(50): ....: for a2 in range(a1+1): ....: for a3 in range(a2+1): ....: x=a1**2+a2**2+a3**2 ....: b=0 ....: while b<50 and b**2<x: ....: b+=1 ....: for b1 in range(b+1): ....: bb=0 ....: while bb<50 and bb**2<x-b1**2: ....: bb+=1 ....: for b2 in range(bb+1): ....: bbb=0 ....: while bbb<50 and bbb**2<x-b1**2-b2**2: ....: bbb+=1 ....: for b3 in range(bbb+1): ....: if a1**2+a2**2+a3**2==b1**2+b2**2+b3**2: ....: n=((a1+b1)**2+(a2+b2)**2+(a3+b3)**2)/2 ....: L.append(n) ....: l=list(set(L)); l.sort() ....: s=set(range(5936))-set(l) ....: S=[] ....: for i in s: ....: f=list(factor(i)) ....: a=f[0][0] ....: b=f[0][1] ....: if a<>2: ....: S.append(i) ....: elif Integer(b).mod(2)==0: ....: S.append(i) ....: elif Integer(i/(2**b)).mod(8)<>7: ....: S.append(i) ....: S.sort() ....: S [5, 23, 29, 65, 167] [1]: https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=1561323 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Eugene_Dickson [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_product [4]: https://math.stackexchange.com/a/2967989/84284 [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendre%27s_three-square_theorem