Introduction to Cryptography Semester 2, 14/15

Number Theory

 The branch of mathematics that is important in IT security especially in cryptography.

 Deals only in integer numbers and the process can be done in a very fast manner.

Modular Arithmetic

• Primarily interested only in modular

arithmetic rather than the
congruence in general.

• Modular arithmetic is often

introduced as ‘clock arithmetic’.

 Example:

o 14 hrs after 3 pm is 5 am the next morning that is

o 14 + 3  5 (mod 12) or 14 + 3 = 1 × 12 + 5

 a  b (mod n) if and only if a mod n = b mod n

 The notation a  b (mod n) is said as ‘a is congruent to b modulo n’.

It holds for integer a, b and n  0.

 b is called a residue of ‘a modulo n’.

 Has features that are appropriate for cryptography e.g. it can be used to compute inverse in
fast mode.

 The intermediates results are restricted to a finite range, usually within (0, n-1), so it has less
likelihood of overflow during computation.

 Some problems involving inverses are very, very hard to solve, yet when one of the inverses is
known, to solve the other is simple.

 “Inverses” are important because they are good candidate for E/D keys.

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Laws of Associativity, Commutativity, and Distributivity

 Associativity: (a + b) mod n + c mod n = a + (b + c) mod n

 Commutativity: (a + b) mod n = b mod n + a mod n

 Distributivity: (a + b) mod n  c = (a  c) mod n + ( b  c) mod n

a +/-b mod n = [a mod n +/- b mod n] mod n

Residues of Modulo n

 A set of n integers {r1, …, rn} is called complete set of residues of modulo n.

 For any modulus n, the set of integers {0, 1, ..., n-1} forms a complete set of residues of
modulo n.

 Note: -12(mod 7)  -5(mod 7)  2(mod 7)  9(mod 7)

 Example:

• Find (87 + 114) mod 11

(87 + 114) mod 11 = (10 + 4) mod 11 = 14 mod 11 = 3 mod 11.
(And in fact, 87 + 114 = 201 = 11×18 + 3)

• Find 14(34 mod 16)

14(34 mod 16) = 14(2 mod 16) = 28 mod 16 = 12 mod 16.
(And, in fact, 14·34 = 476 = 29·16 + 12.)

• Find (1234 - 456) mod 7

(1234 - 456) mod 7 = 1234 mod 7 - 456 mod 7 = (2 - 1) mod 7 = 1 mod 7.
(And in fact, 1234 -456 = 778 = 1 mod 7.

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• Find 35 mod 7

1. Square 3 3×3=9 3 mod 7 × 3 mod 7 = 2 mod 7

2. Square the result 9 × 9 = 81 2 mod 7 × 2 mod 7 = 4 mod 7
3. Multiply by 3 81 × 3 = 243 4 mod 7 × 3 mod 7 = 5 mod 7
4. Reduce mod 7 243 mod 7 = 5

• Find 312 (mod 7)

32  3 mod 7 × 3 mod 7 = 2 mod 7

34 2 mod 7 × 2 mod 7 = 4 mod 7
38 4 mod 7 × 4 mod 7 = 2 mod 7

312 (mod 7) = 38 (mod 7) × 34 (mod 7) = 2 mod 7 × 4 mod 7 = (mod 7)

• Find 320 mod 5

32  3 × 3 (mod 5)
(32)2 =3 4
 4 × 4 (mod 5)
(34)2 = 38  1 × 1 (mod 5)
(38)2 = 316  1 × 1 (mod 5)
316 * 34 = 320  1 × 1 (mod 5)

• Find 12200 mod 5

Start with (12 × 12) mod 5 

124
128
1216
:
:
12200

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gcd : greatest common divisor

 Any positive integer has at least two divisors, 1 and itself (but it can have more).

 The largest integer that evenly divides the set of numbers.

 Given gcd (p, q) = r

• If r is a divisor for p and q.

• Any divisor for p and q is also a divisor for r.

• Divisor – number used to divide another. In the equation 15 ÷ 3 = 5, 3 is the divisor.

 Example:

If p = 8, q = 9

8=1×2×2×2

9=1×3×3

Then gcd (8, 9) = 1

p = 48, q = 72

48 = 1 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3

72 = 1 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3

Then gcd(48,72) = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 = 24

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 Example:

gcd ( 4, 6) = 2

gcd ( 12, 25) = 1

gcd ( 12, 24) =12

gcd ( 3, 11) = 1

gcd ( 64, 63) = 1

 When gcd (a, n) = 1, it means that a and n do not share any other common factor except 1.

 Then we say that a is relatively prime to n.

 Example:

p = 7, q =11

p = 9, q = 16

Euclid's Algorithm

 Used to find the Greatest Common Divisor (GCD) of two numbers a and n, a < n.

 Fact 1:
gcd (a, 0) = a

Fact 2:
gcd (a, b) = gcd (b, r), where r is the remainder of dividing a by b

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 Euclid's Algorithm

 Find the gcd(2740, 1760)

We have gcd (2740, 1760) = 20.

Find gcd (56, 98)

q r1 r2 r
1 98 56 42
1 56 42 14
3 42 14 0
14 0

Find gcd (36, 123)

q r1 r2 r
3 123 36 15
2 36 15 6
2 15 6 3
2 6 3 0
3 0

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Find gcd (81, 57)

q r1 r2 r
1 81 57 24
2 57 24 9
2 24 9 6
1 9 6 3
2 6 3 0
3 0

Multiplicative Inverses

 Computation of multiplicative inverses i.e. given an integer a in the range [0, n-1], it may be
possible to find a unique integer x in the range such that
a  x mod n = 1
then a and x are said to be multiplicative inverses one another.

Example:

3 and 7 are multiplicative inverses mod 10

because 21 mod 10 = 1.

 If n is very, very large, say 200 digits, then finding the inverses is very, very hard.

 Such features are the basis for highly secure cryptosystem such as RSA / public key encryption.
(RSA is Rivest + Shamir + Adleman, the gang thet try to break DES using CRAY)

 How do we solve an equation of the form a  x mod n = b?

Example: 6x mod 10 = 4. Find x.

Unique Inverse

 a-1 is inverse of a mod n if a  a-1 = 1 mod n

 Given a  [0, n-1], a has a unique inverse mod n when a and n are relatively prime i.e. a and x
are guarantee unique iff
gcd (a, n) = 1

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 Example:
i. if n = 5 and a = 3
3  0 mod 5 = 0
3  1 mod 5 = 3
3  2 mod 5 = 1
3  3 mod 5 = 4
3  4 mod 5 = 2

ii. Find the multiplicative inverse of 4 mod 7.

a = 4 and n = 7

4  0 mod 7 = 0
4  1 mod 7 = 4
4  2 mod 7 = 1
4  3 mod 7 = 5
4  4 mod 7 = 2
4  5 mod 7 = 6
4  6 mod 7 = 3

Find the multiplicative inverse of 2 mod 4.

2 *0 mod 4 = 0
2 *1 mod 4 = 2
2 *2 mod 4 = 0
2 *3 mod 4 = 2

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Extended Euclid's (or Binary GCD) Algorithm

 To find Inverse of a number a mod n (where gcd (a, n) = 1) that is mod 26 = ?

 Example: Find d, if 17 × d mod 19800 = 1

 In other words, to find the inverse of (17, 19800).

The answer exist because gcd (17, 19800) = 1

 Extended Euclid's (or Binary GCD) Algorithm  t = multiplicative inverse

Given gcd (n, b) = 1, then (s × n) + (b × t) = gcd (n, b)

If there exist a multiplicative inverse then the relationship (s × n) + (b × t) = 1

Example:

i. Given a = 161 and b = 28, find gcd (a, b) and the values of s and t.

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We get gcd (161, 28) = 7, s = −1 and t = 6.

Since gcd (161, 28)  1, there is no multiplicative inverse.

ii. Find the multiplicative inverse of 3 mod 460.

q r1 r2 r s1 s2 s t1 t2 t
153 460 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 -153
3 3 1 0 0 1 -3 1 -153 460
1 0 1 -3 -153 460

From the extended Euclid’s Algorithm, we get gcd (3, 460) = 1, s = 1 and t1 = -153.
Since gcd (3, 460) = 1, the multiplicative inverse = t = -153 mod 460 = 307
Check: (3  307) mod 460 = 921 mod 460 = 1 mod 460
Hence Inverse (3, 460) = -153 = 307 mod 460

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iii. Find multiplicative inverse of 15 mod 26

q r1 r2 r t1 t2 t
1 26 15 11 0 1 -1
1 15 11 4 1 -1 2
2 11 4 3 -1 2 -5
1 4 3 1 2 -5 7
2 3 1 0 -5 7 -21
1 0 7 -21

From the extended Euclid’s Algorithm, we get gcd (15, 26) = 1, s1 = -4 and t1 = 7.
Since gcd (15, 26) = 1, the multiplicative inverse = t1 = 7 mod 26
Check: (15  7) mod 26 = 1 mod 26

Reduced Residues and Euler Totient Function, (n)

 Euler’s phi-function, (n), which is sometimes referred to as the Euler’s totient function plays a
very important role in cryptography.

 Reduced set of residues mod n is the subset of residues {0, ….., n-1} relatively prime to n.
Example: Reduced set of residues mod 10 is {1, 3, 7, 9}

 If n is prime, the reduced set of residues is the set of n-1 elements {1, 2,…, n-1}

 Euler Totient function,  (n) is the number of elements in the reduced set of residues modulo
n.

 We can combine the above four rules to find the value of f(n). For example, if n can be
factored as n = p1e1 × p2e2 × … × pkek
then we combine the third and the fourth rule to find

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 Example

i. Find  (15)
 (15) =  (3)   (5) = (3 - 1) (5 - 1) = 8.
Check: Reduced set of residues mod 15 {1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14}.

ii. Find  (n) for n = 24 = 2331

 (24) =  (2331) = 22(2 - 1)  30(3 - 1) = 8

iii. Find the value of  (13)?

Because 13 is a prime, (13) = (13 −1) = 12.

iv. What is the value of  (10)?

Use the third rule:  (10) =  (2) ×  (5) = 1 × 4 = 4, because 2 and 5 are primes.

v. What is the value of (240)?

Write 240 = 24 × 31 × 51
Then  (240) = (24 −23) × (31 − 30) × (51 − 50) = 64

vi. What is the number of elements in Z14*?

The answer is (14) = (7) × (2) = 6 × 1 = 6. The members are 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, and 13.

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Other Theorems

 Fermat’s Theorem
Let p be prime. Then for every a such that gcd (a, p) = 1,

ap - 1 mod p =1 mod p.
or
ap = a mod p

 Example:

i. Find the result of 610 mod 11.

We have 610 mod 11 = 1. This is the first version of Fermat’s little theorem where p =
11.

ii. Find the result of 312 mod 11.

312 mod 11 = 310  32 mod 11 = 310 mod 11  32 mod 11 = 1  9 = 9

 Euler’s Generalization
For every a and n such that gcd (a, n) = 1, then

a  (n) mod n =1.

Algorithm for solving ax mod n = 1, where gcd (a, n) = 1 is

x = a  (n)-1 mod n

If n is prime, then x = a (n-1)-1 mod n or x = a (n-2) mod n

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