Lecture 4

FF
(Definition) Complete Residue System: A complete residue system mod m
is a collection of integers a1 . . . am such that ai 6⌘ aj mod m if i 6= j and any
integer n is congruent to some ai mod m

(Definition) Reduced Residue System: A reduced residue system mod m is

a collection of integers a1 . . . ak such that ai 6⌘ aj mod m if i 6= j and (ai , m) = 1
for all i, and any integer n coprime to m must be congruent to some ai mod m.
Eg., take any complete residue system mod m and take the subset consisting of
all the integers in it which are coprime to m - these will form a reduced residue
system

Eg. For m = 12
complete = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12}
reduced = {1, 5, 7, 11}

(Definition) Euler’s Totient Function: The number of elements in a reduced

residue system mod m is called Euler’s totient function: (m) (ie., the number
of positive integers  m and coprime to m)

Theorem 15 (Euler’s Theorem).

If (a, m) = 1, then a (m)

⌘1 mod m

Proof.

Lemma 16. If (a, m) = 1 and r1 . . . rk is a reduced residue system mod m, k = (m),

then ar1 . . . ark is also a reduced residue system mod m.

Proof. All we need to show is that ari are all coprime to m and distinct mod m,
since there are k of these ari and k is the number of elements in any residue
system mod m. We know that if (r, m) = 1 and (a, m) = 1 then (ar, m) = 1.
Also, if we had ari ⌘ arj mod m, then m|ari arj = a(ri rj ). If (a, m) = 1
then m|ri rj ) ri ⌘ rj mod m, which cannot happen unless i = j. ⇤

Choose a reduced residue system r1 . . . rk mod m with k = (m). By lemma,

ar1 . . . ark is also a reduced residue system. These two must be permutations of

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each other mod m (ie., ari ⌘ rj(i) mod m).
r1 r2 . . . rk ⌘ ar1 ar2 . . . ark (mod m)
(m)
r1 r2 . . . rk ⌘ a r1 r2 . . . rk (mod m)
(r1 r2 . . . rk , m) = 1 ) can cancel
(m)
a ⌘1 (mod m)
⌅

Corollary 17 (Fermat’s Little Theorem).

ap ⌘ a (mod p) for prime p and integer a

Proof. If p - a (ie., (a, p) = 1) then a (p) ⌘ 1 mod p by Euler’s Theorem. (p) =

p 1 ) ap 1 ⌘ 1 mod p ) ap ⌘ a mod p. If p|a, then a ⌘ 0 mod p so both
sides are 0 ⌘ 0 mod p. ⌅

Proof by induction.

Lemma 18 (Freshman’s Dream).

(x + y)p ⌘ xp + y p (mod p) x, y 2 Z, prime p

Use the Binomial Theorem.

p 1✓ ◆
X p
(x + y)p = xp + y p + xk y p k
k
k=1
| {z }
⌘0 mod p

p
We saw that k is divisible by p for 1  k  p 1, so
(x + y)p ⌘ xp + y p (mod p)
⇤

Induction base case of a = 0 is obvious. Check to see if it holds for a + 1

assuming it holds for a
(a + 1)p (a + 1) ⌘ ap + 1 (a + 1) (mod p)
⌘ ap a (mod p)
⌘ 0 (mod p)
p
(a + 1) ⌘ (a + 1) (mod p)
This is reversible (if holds for a, then also for a 1), and so holds for all integers
by stepping up or down ⌅

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Proposition 19 (Inverses of elements mod m). If (a, m) = 1, then there is a unique
integer b mod m such that ab ⌘ 1 mod m. This b is denoted by a1 or a 1 mod m

Proof of Existence. Since (a, m) = 1 we know that ax + my = 1 for some integers

x, y, and so ax ⌘ 1 mod m. Set b = x. ⌅

Proof of Uniqueness. If ab1 ⌘ 1 mod m and ab2 ⌘ 1 mod m, then ab1 ⌘ ab2
mod m ) m|a(b1 b2 ). Since (m, a) = 1, m|b1 b2 ) b1 ⌘ b2 mod m. ⌅

Theorem 20 (Wilson’s Theorem). If p is a prime then (p 1)! ⌘ 1 mod p

Proof. Assume that p is odd (trivial for p = 2).

Lemma 21. The congruence x2 ⌘ 1 mod p has only the solutions x ⌘ ±1 mod p

Proof.

x2 ⌘ 1 mod p
2
) p|x 1
) p|(x 1)(x + 1)
) p|x ± 1
) x ⌘ ±1 mod p

Note that x2 ⌘ 1 mod p ) (x, p) = 1 and x has inverse and x ⌘ x 1 mod p

{1 . . . p 1} is a reduced residue system mod p. Pair up elements a with inverse
a 1 mod p. Only singletons will be 1 and 1.

(p 1)! ⌘ (a1 · a1 1 )(a2 · a2 1 ) . . . (ak · ak 1 )(1)( 1) (mod p)

⌘ 1 (mod p)

Wilson’s Theorem lets us solve congruence x2 ⌘ 1 mod p

Theorem 22. The congruence x2 ⌘ 1 mod p is solvable if and only if p = 2 or

p ⌘ 1 mod 4

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Proof. p = 2 is easy. We’ll show that there is no solution for p ⌘ 3 mod 4 by
contradiction. Assume x2 ⌘ 1 mod p for some x coprime to p (p = 4k + 3).
Note that
p 1 = 4k + 2 = 2(2k + 1)
so (x2 )2k+1 ⌘ ( 1)2k+1 ⌘ 1 mod p. But also,

(x2 )2k+1 ⌘ x4k+2 ⌘ xp 1

⌘1 mod p

So 1 ⌘ 1 mod p ) p|2, which is impossible since p is an odd prime.

If p ⌘ 1 mod 4:

(p 1)! ⌘ 1 (mod p) by Wilson’s Theorem

(1)(2) . . . (p 1) ⌘ 1 (mod p)
✓ ◆✓ ◆
p 1 p+1
1 · 2... ...p 1 ⌘ 1 (mod p)
2 2
| {z }| {z }
x show that second factor
equals the first

p1 ⌘ ( 1)1 (mod p)
p2 ⌘ ( 1)2 (mod p)
..
.
p+1 p 1
⌘ ( 1) (mod p)
✓ ◆ 2 2✓ ✓ ◆◆
p+1 p 1 p 1
. . . (p 1) ⌘ ( 1) 2 1 · 2... (mod p)
2 2
| {z } | {z }
second factor x

p 1
2 is even since p ⌘ 1 mod 4, and so second factor equals the first factor, so
x = p 2 1 ! solves x2 ⌘ 1 mod p if p ⌘ 1 mod 4. ⌅

Theorem 23. There are infinitely many primes of form 4k + 1

Proof. As in Euclid’s proof, assume finitely many such primes p1 . . . pn . Con-

sider the positive integer

N = (2p1 p2 . . . pn )2 + 1

N is an odd integer > 1, so it has an odd prime factor q 6= pi , since each pi

divides N 1. q|N ) (2p1 . . . pn )2 ⌘ 1 mod q, so x2 ⌘ 1 mod q has a
solution and so by theorem q ⌘ 1 mod 4, which contradicts q 6= pi . ⌅

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(Definition) Congruence: A congruence (equation) is of the form an xn +
an 1 x n 1
· · · + a0 ⌘ 0 mod m where an . . . a0 are integers. Solution of the
congruence are integers or residue classes mod m that satisfy the equation.

Eg. xp x ⌘ 0 mod p. How many solutions? p.

Eg. x2 ⌘ 1 mod 5. Answers = 2, 3.

Eg. x2 ⌘ 1 mod 43. No solutions since 43 ⌘ 3 mod 4.

Eg. x2 ⌘ 1 mod 15. Answers = ±1, ±4 mod 15.

Note: The number of solutions to a non-prime modulus can be larger than the
degree

(Definition) Linear Congruence: a congruence of degree 1 (ax ⌘ b mod m)

Theorem 24. Let g = (a, m). Then there is a solution to ax ⌘ b mod m if and only
if g|b. If it has solutions, then it has exactly g solutions mod m.

Proof. Suppose g - b. We want to show that the congruence doesn’t have a

solution. Suppose x0 is a solution ) ax0 = b + mk for some integer k. Since
g|a, g|m, g divides ax0 mk = b, which is a contradiction. Conversely, if g|b,
we want to show that solutions exist. We know g = ax0 + my0 for integer x0 , y0 .
If b = b0 g, multiply by b0 to get
b = b0 g = b0 |ax0 + my0
= a(b0 x0 ) + m(b0 y0 )
) a(b0 x0 ) ⌘ b (mod m)

and so x = b0 x0 is a solution.

We need to show that there are exactly g solutions. We know that there is one
solution x1 , and the congruence says ax ⌘ b ⌘ ax1 mod m.

a(x x1 ) ⌘ 0 (mod m)
a(x x1 ) ⌘ mk for some integer k
g = (a, m) ) a = a0 g, m = m0 g

So (a, m0 ) = 1, so a0 g(x x1 ) = m0 gk ) a(x x1 ) = m0 k for some k. So m0 |x x1 ,

so x ⌘ x1 mod m0 , so any solution of the congruence must be congruent to x

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mod m0 = m. So all the solutions are x1 , x1 + m0 , x1 + 2m0 , . . . , x1 + (g 1)m0 .
They are all distinct, so they are all the solutions mod m. ⌅