# Proving that if a is a quadratic residue mod p, then -a is also a quadratic residue mod p iff $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$

Let p be an odd prime number and let $a$ be a quadratic residue mod p. Prove that -a is also a quadratic residue mod p iff $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$

I think that (${-1} \over p$)=1 if $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ is part of the proof, but I'm not sure how to bring it in. Any help?

I assume $a \neq 0$, otherwise the statement is not true.
Now, using the multiplicativity of the Legendre symbol, we get that $-a$ is a quadratic residue iff $1=(\frac{-a}{p})=(\frac{a}{p})(\frac{-1}{p})=(\frac{-1}{p})$ which is true iff $p \equiv 1 \pmod{4}$, as desired.
If ${a\choose \overline p}={b\choose \overline p}=1$ it means we can find integers $u, v$ such that $a=u^2\pmod p$ and $b=v^2\pmod p$; then for their product we have $ab=(uv)^2\pmod p$. So we get ${ab\choose \overline{\ p\ }}=1\pmod p$.
For a prime $p$ that is 1 mod 4, we have $-1$ is a square modulo $p$, which can be seen as below: the multiplicative group is of order $p-1$, a multiple of 4. This group is cyclic, say generated by $g$. Its $(p-1)$th power is 1, not smaller powers. So $g^{(p-1)/2}=-1\pmod p$; now we see $-1=g^{(p-1)/2}={\big(g^{(p-1)/4} \big)}^2$is a square indeed.
Taking $b$ as $-1$ we see that $-a$ is also a square if $a$ is.