diff --git a/src/field.rs b/src/field.rs
index 572b39f..3910792 100644
--- a/src/field.rs
+++ b/src/field.rs
@@ -522,6 +522,39 @@ impl FieldElement {
         (bytes[0] & 1) as i32
     }
 
+    /// Determine if this `FieldElement` is negative, in the
+    /// sense used by Decaf: `x` is nonnegative if the least
+    /// absolute residue for `x` lies in `[0, (p-1)/2]`, and
+    /// is negative otherwise.
+    ///
+    /// # Return
+    ///
+    /// Returns `1u8` if negative, `0u8` if nonnegative.
+    ///
+    /// # Implementation
+    ///
+    /// Uses a trick borrowed from Mike Hamburg's code.  Let `x \in
+    /// F_p` and let `y \in Z` be the least absolute residue for `x`.
+    /// Suppose `y ≤ (p-1)/2`.  Then `2y < p` so `2y = 2y mod p` and
+    /// `2y mod p` is even.  On the other hand, if `y > (p-1)/2` then
+    /// `2y ≥ p`; since `y < p`, `2y \in [p, 2p)`, so `2y mod p =
+    /// 2y-p`, which is odd.
+    ///
+    /// Thus we can test whether `y ≤ (p-1)/2` by checking whether `2y
+    /// mod p` is even.
+    pub fn is_negative_decaf(&self) -> u8 {
+        let y = self + self;
+        (y.to_bytes()[0] & 1) as u8
+    }
+
+    /// Determine if this `FieldElement` is nonnegative, in the
+    /// sense used by Decaf: `x` is nonnegative if the least
+    /// absolute residue for `x` lies in `[0, (p-1)/2]`, and
+    /// is negative otherwise.
+    pub fn is_nonnegative_decaf(&self) -> u8 {
+        1u8 & (!self.is_negative_decaf())
+    }
+
     /// Determine if this `FieldElement` is zero.
     ///
     /// # Return