Gauss Sums of the Cubic Character over $GF(2^m)$: an elementary derivation

Abstract

An elementary approach is shown which derives the value of the Gauss sum of a cubic character over a finite field $\mathbb F_{2^s}$ without using Davenport-Hasse's theorem (namely, if $s$ is odd the Gauss sum is -1, and if $s$ is even its value is $-(-2)^{s/2}$).