I am studying elliptic curves using this book and have a problem with task 4.11 which goes as follows:
Let $F_q$ be a finite field of odd characteristic and let $ a,b \in F_q $ with $a \ne2b$ and $b \ne 0. $ Define the elliptic curve E by $ y^2 = x^3+ax^2+b^2x $ a) Show that the points $ (b,b\sqrt{a+2b})$ and $(-b,-b\sqrt{a-2b}) $ have order 4.
So, if the curve was on normal weierstrass form I guess I could use the formula and eventually reach infinity, but if the curve can have characteristic 3, then how can I transform it to weierstrass? Or is there any other way to show that the points have order 4 using schoof's or baby-step giant-step etc?
First, the form $y^2=x^3+ax^2+bx$ is close enough to the classical form to do all the necessary computations in, as long as the characteristic is not $2$.
Second, when an elliptic curve is in this form, I hope it’s obvious that the points of order two are exactly those on the $x$-axis.
Third, on this particular curve, the origin is thus a point of order two, and to find $2$-division of this point, you only need to find points on the curve at which the tangent passes through the origin.
It’s no fancier than that.