Unit 2-Lecture 2: Modular Arithmetic

1 Modular Arithmetic

• Definition of Congruence: $a \equiv b (mod\ \ n)\ \ iff\ \ n\ |\ (a-b)$.
• Reminder Lemma: $a \equiv b (mod\ \ n)\ \ iff\ \ rem(a,n)\ =\ rem(b,n)$.
• $29 \equiv _{mod\ 7}\ 15$.
• Corollary: $a \equiv rem(a,n)\ (mod\ n)$.
• t congruence modulo n is that it defines a partition of the integers into n sets so that congruent numbers are all in the same set.

2 Reminder Arthmetic

• General Principle of Remainder Arithmetic:
  
  • replace each integer operand by its remainder on division by n,
  • keep each result of an addition or multiplication in the range [0..n) by immediately replacing any result outside that range by its remainder on division by n.
• The set of integers in the range [0..n) together with the operations $+_n$ and $\bullet_n$ is referred to as $\mathbb Z_n$, the ring of integers modulo n.

3 Multiplicative Inverses and Cancelling

• The multiplicative inverse of a number x is another number $x^{-1}$ such that $x^{-1}x=1$.
• Integers that have no prime factor in common are called relatively prime, namely gcd(a,b)=1.
• The following are equivalent for $k \in [0..n)$:
  $gcd(k,n)=1$
  $k\ \ has\ an\ inverse\ in\ \mathbb Z_n$
  $k\ \ is\ cancellable\ in\ \mathbb Z_n$

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Reference

[1] Lehman E, Leighton F H, Meyer A R. Mathematics for Computer Science[J]. 2015.