“Mod p” Arithmetic and Algebra.

Topics in Algebra 5900

Spring 2011
Aaron Bertram

Let p be a prime number.

Definition. (i) The “mod p” numbers are all the remainders:
{0, 1, 2, . . . , p − 1}
when a natural number is divided by p.
(ii) Addition and multiplication are defined in two steps:
Step 1. Add (or multiply) two given remainders.
Step 2. Divide the result by p and replace it with the remainder.
Example. In mod 17 arithmetic:
12 + 13 = 8 (the remainder when 25 is divided by 17) and
12 · 13 = 3 (the remainder when 156 is divided by 17)

Mod p Arithmetic Theorem.

Addition and multiplication of the mod p numbers have all the good
properties of the rational numbers. That is:
(a) The commutative, associative and distributive laws all hold.
(b) Every number mod p has an additive inverse (i.e. a “negative”).
(c) Every number mod p except zero has a mod p reciprocal.
Tables for Small Values of p.
Here are the addition and multiplication tables mod 2:

+ 0 1 * 0 1
0 0 1 0 0 0
1 1 0 1 0 1

This includes one peculiar equation:

1 + 1 = 0 (mod 2)
from which it follows that:
−1 = 1 (mod 2)
This will take some getting used to, but remember that the meaning
of −1 is “the number you add to 1 to get 0.”
1
2

And here are the addition and multiplication tables mod 3:

+ 0 1 2 * 0 1 2
0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0
1 1 2 0 1 0 1 2
2 2 0 1 2 0 2 1

Here we have two peculiar equations:

1 + 2 = 0 (mod 3) and 2 · 2 = 1 mod 3
which give us two additive inverses and one reciprocal:
−1 = 2 (mod 3), −2 = 1 (mod 3) and 1/2 = 2 (mod 3)
remembering that 1/2 is the number you multiply by 2 to get 1.
It is worth repeating the remarkable feature of mod p arithmetic.
When doing arithmetic mod p, we do not need to introduce fractions
in order to find reciprocals. Reciprocals of mod p numbers are other
mod p numbers!
Another Set of Tables: The tables for mod 5 arithmetic are:

+ 0 1 2 3 4 * 0 1 2 3 4
0 0 1 2 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 2 3 4 0 1 0 1 2 3 4
2 2 3 4 0 1 2 0 2 4 1 3
3 3 4 0 1 2 3 0 3 1 4 2
4 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 4 3 2 1
Inverses in mod 5 arithmetic:
−1 = 4, −2 = 3, −3 = 2, −4 = 1 (mod 5) and
1/2 = 3, 1/3 = 2 and 1/4 = 4 (mod 5)
Some patterns are now emerging. First,
Additive inverses mod p are easy to find. Since:
k + (p − k) = p for all k = 0, 1, . . . , p − 1
it follows that k and p − k are additive inverses of each other. That is:
−k = p − k (mod p)
This means, for example, that we can replace p − k with −k in the
multiplication tables and cut the work in half. The addition tables by
now are easy to fill in. We’ll concentrate on multiplication tables for
the next two primes, and leave out the row and column of zeroes.
 3

Three More Primes: The multiplication table mod 7 is:

* 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1
1 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1
2 2 -3 -1 1 3 -2
3 3 -1 2 -2 1 -3
-3 -3 1 -2 2 -1 3
-2 -2 3 1 -1 -3 2
-1 -1 -2 -3 3 2 1
The reciprocal “table” is:
1/2 = −3, 1/3 = −2, 1/(−3) = 2, 1/(−2) = 3, 1/(−1) = −1 (mod 7)
The multiplication table mod 11 is:
* 1 2 3 4 5 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
1 1 2 3 4 5 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
2 2 4 -5 -3 -1 1 3 5 -4 -2
3 3 -5 -2 1 4 -4 -1 2 5 -3
4 4 -3 1 5 -2 2 -5 -1 3 -4
5 5 -1 4 -2 3 -3 2 -4 1 -5
-5 -5 1 -4 2 -3 3 -2 4 -1 5
-4 -4 3 -1 -5 2 -2 5 1 -3 4
-3 -3 5 2 -1 -4 4 1 -2 -5 3
-2 -2 -4 5 3 1 -1 -3 -5 4 2
-1 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 5 4 3 2 1
We can really reduce the size of these tables if we use the rules for
multiplication by additive inverses:
(−a)b = a(−b) = −ab and (−a)(−b) = ab
so we only have to record the products of “positive” numbers mod p.
The streamlined multiplication table mod 13 is:
* 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 1 2 3 4 5 6
2 2 4 6 -5 -3 -1
3 3 6 -4 -1 2 5
4 4 -5 -1 3 -6 -2
5 5 -3 2 -6 -1 4
6 6 -1 5 -2 4 -3
and the reciprocal table is:
1/1 = 1, 1/2 = −6, 1/3 = −4, 1/4 = −3, 1/5 = −5, 1/6 = −2 (mod 13)
4

One Last Table: Using the commutative law of multiplication, we

can even cut the streamlined table (almost) in half, since we don’t
need the lower left triangle. With this in mind, the super-streamlined
multiplication table mod 17 is:
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2 4 6 8 -7 -5 -3 -1
3 -8 -5 -2 1 4 7
4 -1 3 7 -6 -2
5 8 -4 1 6
6 2 8 -3
7 -2 5
8 -4
Exercise 1. Work out the super-streamlined multiplication tables:
(a) mod 19
(b) mod 23
(c) mod 29
Mod p Algebra Theorem.
Equations involving variables are solved “mod p” just as they are
solved in ordinary algebra, keeping in mind that:
(a) All constants are mod p numbers.
(b) All arithmetic is mod p arithmetic.
(c) All variables stand for mod p numbers.
Linear Equations mod p are equations of the form:
ax + b = c (mod p)
They are solved exactly as usual. Namely:
Step 1. Subtract b from both sides (mod p).
Step 2. Multiply both sides by the reciprocal of a to solve:

c−b
x= (mod p)
a
Example. Solve:
3x + 4 = 1 (mod 5)
 5

Step 1. Subtract 4 from both sides.

Since −4 = 1 (mod 5) this is the same as adding 1 to both sides!
3x = (1 − 4) = (1 + 1) = 2 (mod 5)
Step 2. Divide both sides by 3.
Since 1/3 = 2 (mod 5), this is the same as multiplying both sides by 2.
2 1
x= = 2 · = 2 · 2 = 4 (mod 5)
3 3
Let’s check the result. Setting x = 4 (mod 5) gives us:
3x + 4 = 3 · 4 + 4 = 2 + 4 = 1 (mod 5) Check!

Another Example. Solve the same equation mod 7:

3x + 4 = 1 (mod 7)
Step 1. Use −4 = 3 (mod 7) to subtract 4 from both sides:
3x = (1 − 4) = (1 + 3) = 4 (mod 7)
Step 2. Use 1/3 = 5 mod 7 to divide both sides by 3:
x = 4/3 = 4 · 5 = 6 (mod 7)
Now check: 3 · 6 + 4 = 4 + 4 = 1 (mod 7). Check!
Standard Quadratic Equations are of the form:
ax2 + bx + c = 0 (mod p)
We want to solve them as usual by completing the square.
Step 1. Subtract c from both sides:
ax2 + bx = −c (mod p)
Step 2. Multiply both sides by 4a:
4a2 x2 + 4ab = −4ac (mod p)
Step 3. Add b2 to both sides.
4a2 x2 + 4ab + b2 = b2 − 4ac (mod p)
Step 4. Factor the left side:
(2ax + b)2 = b2 − 4ac (mod p)
Step 5. Take square roots of both sides:
√
2ax + b = ± b2 − 4ac (mod p)
6

Step 6. Subtract b from both sides and divide by 2a:

√
−b ± b2 − 4ac
x= (mod p)
2a
Voila! The quadratic formula.
Every step works just as usual except we have the following:
Question. How do we take square roots mod p?
The answer is interesting and difficult. It turns out that half of the
numbers from 1 to p − 1 have square roots, and the other half do not.
We can see this for small p by inspection of the multiplication tables.
Squares mod p: For the first few odd primes:
√
(mod 3) ± 1 = ±1 but 2 has no square root.
√ √
(mod 5) ± 1 = ±1 and ± 4 = ±2 but 2, 3 have no square roots.
√ √ √
(mod 7) ± 1 = ±1 and ± 4 = ±2 and ± 2 = ±3
The other numbers: 3, 5, 6 have no square roots.
√ √ √ √ √
(mod 11) ± 1 = ±1, ± 4 = ±2, ± 9 = ±3, ± 5 = ±4, ± 3 = ±5.
The other numbers: 2, 6, 7, 8, 10 have no square roots.
Exercise 2. Continue this for the primes p = 13, 17, 19, 23 and 29.
Remember that with the real numbers, the discriminant
b2 − 4ac
has two square roots if it is positive and none if it is negative.
Unfortunately, in mod p algebra, we have nothing like the sign of the
discriminant to guide us to whether or not b2 − 4ac has a square root
mod p. There is an amazing result, known as Quadratic Reciprocity,
that helps us tell whether numbers have square roots mod p, but this
would take us too far afield. We will just be satisified here with seeing
what happens one prime at a time.
Example: In ordinary algebra, the two solutions to:
x2 − x − 1 = 0
are the the golden mean and its cousin, little golden mean:
√
1± 5
φ=
2
What are the mod p solutions for small primes?
(mod 2) This makes no sense mod 2, since we would divide by zero!
(mod 3) 5 = 2 (mod 3) has no square root, so there are no solutions!
 7
√
(mod 5) 5 = 0 (mod 5) and 0 = 0, so there is one solution:
x = 1/2 = 3 (mod 5)
and 32 − 3 − 1 = 0 (mod 5). Check!
(mod 7) 5 has no square root mod 7, so there are no solutions.
√
(mod 11) ± 5 = ±4 (mod 11), so there are two solutions:
1±4 5 −3
x= = or (mod 11)
2 2 2
and since 1/2 = 6 (mod 11), we finally get:
x = 5 · 6 = 8 or x = (−3) · 6 = 4 (mod 11)
and 8 − 8 − 1 = 55 = 0 (mod 11) and 42 − 4 − 1 = 11 = 0 (mod 11).
2

Check!!
Exercise 3. Try this out with more primes, and also find solutions to:
x2 + x + 1 = 0 (mod p)
for a few primes. (This one has no real solutions, since b2 − 4ac = −3).

Finally, here is something that has no analogue in “ordinary” algebra.

Primitive Numbers mod p
Take a nonzero number mod p and call it a, and consider its powers:
a, a2 , a3 , a4 , . . . (mod p)
Eventually, you will always get back to 1. In fact:
Fermat’s Little Theorem: No matter what a 6= 0 you choose,
ap−1 = 1 (mod p)
Definition. The number a is primitive if the p − 1st power is the first
power that gets back to 1.
Examples: Consider the powers of the numbers mod 7:
1
2, 4, 1
3, 2, 6, 4, 5, 1
4, 2, 1
5, 4, 6, 2, 3, 1
6, 1
so 3 and 5 are primitive but the others are not.
8

It is a fact that primitive numbers mod p exist for any prime p, but
it is not such an easy task to find them!
Exercise 4. Find all the primitive numbers:
(a) mod 11
(b) mod 13
(c) mod 17