R01 Notes
R01 Notes
6.857
February 10, 2017
1 Introduction
Today we will be going over some mathematical background, beginning with
groups and fields. These concepts will be useful later on, in cryptographic
systems such as the Diffie-Hellman key exchange or the Advanced Encryption
Standard.
2 Groups
Definition 1. A binary operation f (x, y) is an operation that applies to two
quantities or expressions x and y. A binary operation on a nonempty set A is
a map f : A × A → A such that
1. f is defined for every pair of elements in A
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In addition, if ∀a, b ∈ G it is true that ab = ba, then we call G a commutative
or an abelian group.
It is easy to prove that the identity element I is unique. For all a ∈ G, the
inverse a− is also unique. (Hint: use proof by contradiction).
3 Finite Fields
Definition 3. A finite field F is a system (S, +, ·) where S is a finite set and
+, · are binary operations on S such that all of the field axioms hold for both
addition and multiplication. The field axioms include associativity, commuta-
tivity, distributivity, identity, and inverses. In other words, the finite field must
satisfy the following properties:
2
3.2 Solving Linear Equations
Solving linear equations in finite fields is very intuitive. For example, to solve
a · x + b = 0 where a 6= 0, we take the following steps:
a·x+b=0
(a · x + b) + (−b) = 0 + (−b) = −b
(a · x) + (b + (−b)) = −b
a · x + 0 = −b
a·x=b
−1
a (a · x) = a−1 (−b)
(a−1 · a)x = a−1 (−b)
1 · x = a−1 (−b)
x = a−1 (−b)
4 Galois Fields
Theorem 1 (Galois). For all primes p and for all positive integers n there
exists a unique finite field with pn elements.
We call this field GF (pn ). Of special interest to cryptography is the case where
p = 2. The field GF (28 ) is used in the Advanced Encryption Standard (to be
covered later in the term).
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4.2 Multiplication in GF (2k )
Multiplication in GF (2k ) involves two steps.
g · g · g · ... · g = 1
| {z }
n-1 times