This document covers several topics in number theory including divisibility, congruences, prime numbers, and the Goldbach conjecture. It defines key terms like quotients, remainders, and prime factorization. It also states the fundamental theorem that every integer greater than 1 can be written as a product of prime numbers and discusses the still unproven Goldbach conjecture that every even integer greater than 2 is the sum of two prime numbers.
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0 ratings0% found this document useful (0 votes)
37 views
Unit 7 Basic Number Theory
This document covers several topics in number theory including divisibility, congruences, prime numbers, and the Goldbach conjecture. It defines key terms like quotients, remainders, and prime factorization. It also states the fundamental theorem that every integer greater than 1 can be written as a product of prime numbers and discusses the still unproven Goldbach conjecture that every even integer greater than 2 is the sum of two prime numbers.
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 23
Divisibility
Basic property of divisibility
≤ ≤ The division algorithm Proof of division algorithm (continued) Quotient and remainder • In the division algorithm, q is called the quotient and r is called the remainder (when a is divided by d). We write q = a div d and r = a mod d. For example, 9 = 101 div 11 and 2 = 101 mod 11. • Another example: -4 = -11 div 3 and 1 = -11 mod 3. Congruences Properties of congruences Further properties of congruences Generalizations Example 1 Example 2 Subunit 7(b) Primes Prime numbers Prime factorization • Theorem 1: Every positive integer greater than 1 is a prime or a product of two or more primes. • For example, Proof of Theorem 1 Proof of Theorem 1 (continued) Unique factorization • It can be proved that the prime factorization, whose existence is guaranteed by Theorem 1, is unique up to ordering. The proof of this is harder and requires some further background material. A useful result Example 3 Infinitude of primes The Goldbach conjecture • Consider the following:
From this it appears that every even integer
greater than two is the sum of two primes. This was conjectured by Goldbach in the 18th century. It is still not proved.