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Euler's Theorem

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Euler's theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Euler%27s_theorem

Euler's theorem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In number theory, Euler's theorem (also known as the Fermat-Euler theorem or Euler's totient
theorem) states that if n is a positive integer and a is a positive integer coprime to n, then

where φ(n) is Euler's totient function and "... ≡ ... (mod n)" denotes ... congruence ... modulo n. The
converse of Euler's theorem is also true; if the above congruence holds, then a and n are coprime.

The theorem is a generalization of Fermat's little theorem, and is further generalized by Carmichael's
theorem.

The theorem may be used to easily reduce large powers modulo n. For example, consider finding the last
decimal digit of 7222, i.e. 7222 (mod 10). Note that 7 and 10 are coprime, and φ(10) = 4. So Euler's theorem
yields 74 ≡ 1 (mod 10), and we get 7222 ≡ 74x55 + 2 ≡ (74)55x72 ≡ 155x72 ≡ 49 ≡ 9 (mod 10).

In general, when reducing a power of a modulo n (where a and n are coprime), one needs to work modulo
φ(n) in the exponent of a:

if x ≡ y (mod φ(n)), then ax ≡ ay (mod n).

Euler's theorem also forms the basis of the RSA encryption system: encryption and decryption in this system
together amount to exponentiating the original text by φ(n), so Euler's theorem shows that the decrypted
result is the same as the original.

Proofs
1. Leonhard Euler published a proof in 1736. Using modern terminology, one may prove the theorem as
follows: the numbers a which are relatively prime to n form a group under multiplication mod n, the group G
of (multiplicative) units of the ring Z/nZ. This group has φ(n) elements. The element a := a (mod n) is a
member of the group G, and the order o(a) of a (the least k > 0 such that ak = 1) must have a multiple equal
to the size of G. (The order of a is the size of the subgroup of G generated by a, and Lagrange's theorem
states that the size of any subgroup of G divides the size of G.)
M
Thus for some integer M > 0, M·o(a) = φ(n). Therefore aφ(n) = ao(a)·M =(ao(a)) = 1M = 1. This means that
aφ(n) = 1 (mod n).

2. Another direct proof: if a is coprime to n, then multiplication by a permutes the residue classes mod n that
are coprime to n; in other words (writing R for the set consisting of the φ(n) different such classes) the sets {
x : x in R } and { ax : x in R } are equal; therefore, their products are equal. Hence, P ≡ aφ(n)P (mod n)
where P is the first of those products. Since P is coprime to n, it follows that aφ(n) ≡ 1 (mod n).

The Mizar project has completely formalized and automatically checked a proof of Euler's theorem in the
EULER_2 file (http://www.mizar.org/JFM/Vol10/euler_2.html) .

1 of 2 10-05-2010 21:20 PM
Euler's theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_theorem

External links
Weisstein, Eric W., "Euler's Totient Theorem (http://mathworld.wolfram.com
/EulersTotientTheorem.html) " from MathWorld.
Euler's Theorem (http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/EulersTheorem.html) at PlanetMath
(http://planetmath.org)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_theorem"
Categories: Modular arithmetic | Mathematical theorems | Articles containing proofs

This page was last modified on 7 May 2010 at 09:56.


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2 of 2 10-05-2010 21:20 PM

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