Hi, Gene.
Thanks for the answer. (I hope to see the proof sometime. I wonder if there's some use for quaternions here...)
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The number, r4(n), of integer solutions (w,x,y,z) of
w^2 + x^2 + y^2 + z^2 = n, for positive integer n, is
8 times the sum of the divisors of n which are not divisible by 4.
Expressed another way,
r4(n)/8 is multiplicative, and
r4(p^n)/8 = 1 + p + p^2 + ... + p^n for p an odd prime,
r4(2^n)/8 = 1 + 2 for n>0.
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This formula, which I'm seeing for the first time, is amazingly interesting!
--Dan