Quadratic residues mod $n$ of $n-1$

Question

While investigating something about square numbers, I started to wonder which numbers $n$ have quadratic residues of $n-1$. Obviously all $n$ of the form $m^2+1$ will work. But there are other numbers such as $13$, is there a pattern to them? Any insights on this would be great.

Answer 1

In very short:

The equation $\,x^2=-1\pmod p\,,\;p\,$ a prime, has solution iff $\,p=1\pmod 4\,$ or $\,p=2\,$ (this is already a very nice exercise), and from here, with the prime factorization of $\,n\in\Bbb N\,$ , you get the corresponding condition for $\,x^2=-1\pmod m\,$.