+Number theory

Notation

[n]: Set of first n natural numbers.

Themes

About Z.

Properties of Numbers

Evenness and odness. Primes and composites. Unique factorization of n as product of primes: \(n=p_{1}^{e_{1}} ..\).

GCD

gcd(x,y). \(gcd(x, y) |x-y\).

Euclid’s algorithm

To find gcd(x, y): if \(y|x\) return y else return gcd(x, y-x).

From Euclid’s alg, GCD(x,y)=ax+by. If 1 = ax+by, a \(\equiv\) multiplicative inverse of x mod y.

Extended Euclid’s alg

Find a,b using Euclid’s alg.

Diophontine equation

Indeterminate polynomial eqn with integer solutions: eg: gcd(x, y) = ax + by in Euclid’s alg.

Conjectures

Goldbach conjecture: \(\forall x \in N, x>4\), x = sum of 2 primes.

Primes

Special primes

Marsenne prime: writ as \(2^{n}-1\).

Prime number theorem

Num of primes under k = \(\Pi(k) = (1 + o(1))\frac{k}{\ln k}\). \why

(Green, Tao) Number of arithmatic progressions of primes of length \(\geq k\) is \(\geq 1\).

Primality testing of n

Don’t try to factor: assumed hard.

Randomized primality test

(Miller Rabin) Pick rand x in \(Z^{+}{n} - \set{0}\). If \(x | n\) reject. See if (Fermat’s little th, Lucas-Lehmer) \(\forall x \in Z{n}^{*}: x^{n-1} = 1 \mod n\) holds: do it in polylog time with repeated squaring. Repeat test with many x’s. In failure, reject. Else, check if it is a Carmichael composite number: see if 1 has a non-trivial square root: Write \(n-1=2^{s}d\); pick \(x\neq \pm 1\); repeatedly square and check if \(x \mod n = 1\): if so reject, else if \(x \mod n = -1\): try starting with another x.

Picking some prime below N

Pick a random number below n, check if it is a prime: if not prime fail. By Prime number th, this alg has \(\approx (\ln n)^{-1}\) success rate, which can then be amplified.

Special numbers

Square free integers

Aka quadratfrei. Divisible by no perfect square except 1.

Carmichael composite number

Let prime factorization: \(n=p_{1}^{e_{1}} ..\). Aka Fermat pseudoprimes: They’re Fermat liers: \(\forall a: a^{n-1} \equiv 1 \mod n\). n is Carmichael iff it is square free; for all \(p_{i}\) \(p_{i}-1|n-1\). \why Eg: 561 = 31117; \(\forall a: a^{560} = 1 \mod 3, \mod 17, \mod 11\) as \(2, 10, 16 | 560\).

Modulo arithmatic

The remainder fn. \(-3 \equiv 2 \mod 5\). \(ab \mod n \equiv (a \mod n) (b \mod n) \mod n\). So, congruence relation over \(\mathbb{Z}\) wrt +, *. If \(a \equiv b \mod n \implies n|a-b\).

Cancellation law

\(ka \equiv kb \mod n \implies k(a-b) \equiv 0 \mod p \implies a \equiv b \mod n\).

Chinese remainder theorem

Let \(n_{i}\)’s coprime, \(N=\prod_{j} n_{j}\). System of simultaneous congruences \(x = a_{i} \mod n_{i}\) for \(i=1 \dots k\) has a unique solution for x in \(\mathbb{Z}_{N}\).

Uniqueness

If \(\forall i, x \equiv x_{i} \mod n_{i}\), and \(y \equiv x_{i} \mod n_{i}\), \(x - y \equiv 0 \mod N\).

Solving for x

Use Extended Euclid’s alg on \(1=r_{i}n_{i}+s_{i}\frac{N}{n_{i}}\) to find \(r_{i}\) and \(s_{i}\), let \(e_{i}=s_{i}\frac{N}{n_{i}}\); then \(e_{i} \equiv 1 \mod n_{i}\) but \(0 \mod n_{j}\); thence find \(x=\sum_{i=1}^{k}a_{i}e_{i}\).

Equivalent statements and implications

\(|Z_{N}| \to |\times_{i} Z_{n_{i}}|\). Map \(x \to (x \mod n_{1}, ..)\) from \(Z_{N} \to \times_{i} Z_{n_{i}}\) is both one to one and onto. Also, Isomorphism by Chinese remainder fn: \(\mathbb{Z}{n} \cong \times{i}\mathbb{Z}{n{i}}\) preserves +, *.

Utility

Useful for manipulating composite numbers. An airthmatic question mod N reduced to arithmatic questions modulo \(n_{i}\), if we know \(\set{n_{i}}\).

Additive group

\(Z^{+_{p}\) A prime order group. Does not have any subgroups.

Multiplicative group

\(Z_{N^{*}\)

\(Z^{*}_{N}\) : N’s coprimes in \({1, \dots, N-1}, * \mod N\). Proof: GCD with N is 1, so use extended Euclid’s alg to find inverses. If p prime; -1 := p-1; \(\sqrt{1} \equiv \pm 1 \mod p\).

Order

N=pq; p, q primes: order = totient function: \(|Z^{*}{N}|=\varphi(N)=(p-1)(q-1)\): we discard multiples of p, q. Also, if \(N= \prod p{i}^{e_{i}}\), \(\varphi(N)=\prod (p_{i}-1)p_{i}^{e_{i}-1}\).

(Euler’s theorem). \(a^{\varphi(N)} \equiv 1 \mod N\): Take \(a, a^{2} \dots a^{k} = e\); this is a subgroup of \(Z^{*}_{N}\); by Lagrange (see group theory in algebra ref), \(k|\varphi(N)\).

\(N= \prod p_{i}^{e_{i}}\). \(\frac{|Z_{N}^{*}|}{|Z_{N}^{+}|} = \frac{\varphi(N)}{N} = \prod_{i = 1}^{t}\frac{p_{i} - 1}{p_{i}} \geq \prod_{i = 1}^{t}\frac{i}{i+1} = \frac{1}{1 + t} \geq \frac{1}{1 + \log_{2}N}\).

So, Fermat’s little theorem: p prime: \(a^{p} \equiv a \mod p\).

Primitive roots

Aka generator. If \(S = Z_{n}^{}\), g is primitive root of n. \(Z_{p}^{}\) for prime p always has primitive root \why. 7 has primitive roots 3, 5. \(1,2,4,p^{k},2p^{k}\) have primitive roots for p odd prime and \(k \geq 1\).\ \why \tbc

The number of primitive roots, if there are any, is \(\phi(\phi(n))\). (See group theory in algebra ref)

Primitive root test

g is primitive root of n iff its multiplicative order is \(\phi(n)\): else it generates a subgroup. Efficiently see if g is a generator: find prime factors of \(\phi(n) = \prod_{i} p_{i}\), keep seeing if \(g^{\frac{\phi(n)}{p_{i}}} = 1\).

Quadratic residues

\(QR_{n}\): set of squares mod n. Quadratic non residues. If \(a \in QR_{n}, a R n\), else a N n.

Finding \(\sqrt{x}\) same as solving \(y^{2} = x \mod n\), or factoring \((y^{2}-x) \mod n\).

\(QR_{p}\) for odd prime p

As structure of \(Z_{p}^{}\) cyclic; writable as \(\set{g^{i}}\) for primitive root g; only even powers \(\set{g^{2i}}\) are squares. So, \(|QR_{p}| = |Z_{p}^{}|/2\).

1 has exactly 2 roots: \(\pm 1\), and no more: \(x^{2} - 1 \mod p = (x-1) \mod p (x+1) \mod p = 0\) so x-1 = 0 mod p or x+1 = 0 mod p. \(g^{\frac{p-1}{2}} = -1\). \(\sqrt{g^{2i}} = \pm g^{i}\) by Euler thm.

Jacobi symbol

\((\frac{a}{p})\) = 0 if \(p|a\); +1 if a R p, \(p\nmid a\); -1 if a N p.

Legendre: generalization to n=pq; \((\frac{a}{n})\) = -1 if a N n; if a R n, \((\frac{a}{n}) = 1\), but can’t tell if a R n given \((\frac{a}{n}) = 1\).

\(QR_{n}\) for p, q odd primes; n = pq (Blum integer)}

\(\exists 4\ \sqrt{1}\): take \(x^{2} = 1 \mod n\); \(\pm 1\) are obvious roots; Chinese remainder thm solutions s for \(x = 1 \mod p; x = -1 \mod q\) and t for \(x = -1 \mod p; x = +1 \mod q\) are the other two. As square roots appear in pairs, s = -t. To find the non trivial square roots, must know p, q.

Similarly, for any odd \(m = m_{1}m_{2}\), 1 has \(\geq 4\) roots.

So, any \(a^{2} \in QR_{n}\) has \(\geq 4\) roots: \(a\sqrt{1}\). So, \(4^{-1} |Z_{n}^{*}| \leq |QR_{n}|\).