A reduced binary quadratic form is the binary quadratic form such that the following conditions hold. Let
be the discriminant, then
1. If
is negative,
is reduced if
and if
whenever
or
, and
is called real.
2. If
is positive,
is reduced if
, and
is called imaginary or positive definite.
Every imaginary binary quadratic form is equivalent to a unique reduced form and every real binary quadratic form is equivalent to a finite number of reduced forms.