Chapter 4 – Finite Fields

Introduction
• will now introduce finite fields
• of increasing importance in cryptography
– AES, Elliptic Curve, IDEA, Public Key
• concern operations on “numbers”
– what constitutes a “number”
– the type of operations and the properties
• start with concepts of groups, rings, fields
from abstract algebra
 Group
• a set of elements or “numbers”
– A generalization of usual arithmetic
• obeys:
– closure: a.b also in G
– associative law: (a.b).c = a.(b.c)
– has identity e: e.a = a.e = a
– has inverses a-1: a.a-1 = e
• if commutative a.b = b.a
– then forms an abelian group
• Examples in P.105
 Cyclic Group
• define exponentiation as repeated
application of operator
– example: a3 = a.a.a
• and let identity be: e=a0
• a group is cyclic if every element is a
power of some fixed element
– ie b = ak for some a and every b in group
• a is said to be a generator of the group
• Example: positive numbers with addition
 Ring
• a set of “numbers” with two operations (addition and
multiplication) which are:
• an abelian group with addition operation
• multiplication:
– has closure
– is associative
– distributive over addition: a(b+c) = ab + ac
• In essence, a ring is a set in which we can do addition,
subtraction [a – b = a + (–b)], and multiplication without
leaving the set.
• With respect to addition and multiplication, the set of all
n-square matrices over the real numbers form a ring.
 Ring
• if multiplication operation is commutative,
it forms a commutative ring
• if multiplication operation has an identity
element and no zero divisors (ab=0 means
either a=0 or b=0), it forms an integral
domain
• The set of Integers with usual + and x is
an integral domain
 Field
• a set of numbers with two operations:
– Addition and multiplication
– F is an integral domain
– F has multiplicative reverse
• For each a in F other than 0, there is an element b such that
ab=ba=1
• In essence, a field is a set in which we can do addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division without leaving
the set.
– Division is defined with the following rule: a/b = a (b–1)
• Examples of fields: rational numbers, real numbers,
complex numbers. Integers are NOT a field.
Definitions
 Modular Arithmetic
• define modulo operator a mod n to be
remainder when a is divided by n
– e.g. 1 = 7 mod 3 ; 4 = 9 mod 5
• use the term congruence for: a ≡ b (mod n)
– when divided by n, a & b have same remainder
– eg. 100 ≡ 34 (mod 11)
• b is called the residue of a mod n
– since with integers can always write: a = qn + b
• usually have 0 <= b <= n-1
-12 mod 7 = -5 mod 7 = 2 mod 7 = 9 mod 7
 Modulo 7 Example
...
-21 -20 -19 -18 -17 -16 -15
-14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31 32 33 34
...
all numbers in a column are equivalent (have same
remainder) and are called a residue class
 Divisors
• say a non-zero number b divides a if for
some m have a=mb (a,b,m all integers)
– 0 ≡ a mod b
• that is b divides into a with no remainder
• denote this b|a
• and say that b is a divisor of a
• eg. all of 1,2,3,4,6,8,12,24 divide 24
 Modular Arithmetic Operations
• has a finite number of values, and loops
back from either end
• modular arithmetic
– Can perform addition & multiplication
– Do modulo to reduce the answer to the finite
set
• can do reduction at any point, ie
– a+b mod n = a mod n + b mod n
 Modular Arithmetic
• can do modular arithmetic with any group
of integers: Zn = {0, 1, … , n-1}
• form a commutative ring for addition
• with an additive identity (Table 4.2)
• some additional properties
– if (a+b)≡(a+c) mod n then b≡c mod n
– but (ab)≡(ac) mod n then b≡c mod n
only if a is relatively prime to n
Modulo 8 Example
 Greatest Common Divisor (GCD)
• a common problem in number theory
• GCD (a,b) of a and b is the largest number
that divides both a and b
– eg GCD(60,24) = 12
• often want no common factors (except 1)
and hence numbers are relatively prime
– eg GCD(8,15) = 1
– hence 8 & 15 are relatively prime
 Euclid's GCD Algorithm
• an efficient way to find the GCD(a,b)
• uses theorem that:
– GCD(a,b) = GCD(b, a mod b)
• Euclid's Algorithm to compute GCD(a,b):
– A=a, B=b
– while B>0
• R = A mod B
• A = B, B = R
– return A
 Example GCD(1970,1066)
1970 = 1 x 1066 + 904 gcd(1066, 904)
1066 = 1 x 904 + 162 gcd(904, 162)
904 = 5 x 162 + 94 gcd(162, 94)
162 = 1 x 94 + 68 gcd(94, 68)
94 = 1 x 68 + 26 gcd(68, 26)
68 = 2 x 26 + 16 gcd(26, 16)
26 = 1 x 16 + 10 gcd(16, 10)
16 = 1 x 10 + 6 gcd(10, 6)
10 = 1 x 6 + 4 gcd(6, 4)
6 = 1 x 4 + 2 gcd(4, 2)
4 = 2 x 2 + 0 gcd(2, 0)
• Compute successive instances of GCD(a,b) = GCD(b,a mod b).
• Note this MUST always terminate since will eventually get a mod b
= 0 (ie no remainder left).
 Galois Fields
• finite fields play a key role in many cryptography
algorithms
• can show number of elements in any finite field
must be a power of a prime number pn
• known as Galois fields
• denoted GF(pn)
• in particular often use the fields:
– GF(p)
– GF(2n)
 Galois Fields GF(p)
• GF(p) is the set of integers {0,1, … , p-1} with
arithmetic operations modulo prime p
• these form a finite field
– since have multiplicative inverses
• hence arithmetic is “well-behaved” and can do
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
without leaving the field GF(p)
– Division depends on the existence of multiplicative
inverses. Why p has to be prime?
 Example GF(7)

Example: 3/2=5
GP(6) does not exist
 Finding Inverses
• Finding inverses for large P is a problem
• can extend Euclid’s algorithm:
EXTENDED EUCLID(m, b)
1. (A1, A2, A3)=(1, 0, m);
(B1, B2, B3)=(0, 1, b)
2. if B3 = 0
return A3 = gcd(m, b); no inverse
3. if B3 = 1
return B3 = gcd(m, b); B2 = b–1 mod m
4. Q = A3 div B3
5. (T1, T2, T3)=(A1 – Q B1, A2 – Q B2, A3 – Q B3)
6. (A1, A2, A3)=(B1, B2, B3)
7. (B1, B2, B3)=(T1, T2, T3)
8. goto 2
 Inverse of 550 in GF(1759)

Prove correctness
 Polynomial Arithmetic
• can compute using polynomials
• several alternatives available
– ordinary polynomial arithmetic
– poly arithmetic with coefficients mod p
– poly arithmetic with coefficients mod p and
polynomials mod another polynomial M(x)
• Motivation: use polynomials to model Shift
and XOR operations
 Ordinary Polynomial Arithmetic
• add or subtract corresponding coefficients
• multiply all terms by each other
• eg
– let f(x) = x3 + x2 + 2 and g(x) = x2 – x + 1
f(x) + g(x) = x3 + 2x2 – x + 3
f(x) – g(x) = x3 + x + 1
f(x) x g(x) = x5 + 3x2 – 2x + 2
Polynomial Arithmetic with Modulo
Coefficients
• when computing value of each coefficient,
modulo some value
• could be modulo any prime
• but we are most interested in mod 2
– ie all coefficients are 0 or 1
– eg. let f(x) = x3 + x2 and g(x) = x2 + x + 1
f(x) + g(x) = x3 + x + 1
f(x) x g(x) = x5 + x2
 Modular Polynomial Arithmetic
• Given any polynomials f,g, can write in the form:
– f(x) = q(x) g(x) + r(x)
– can interpret r(x) as being a remainder
– r(x) = f(x) mod g(x)
• if have no remainder say g(x) divides f(x)
• if g(x) has no divisors other than itself & 1 say it
is irreducible (or prime) polynomial
• Modular polynomial arithmetic modulo an
irreducible polynomial forms a field
– Check the definition of a field
 Polynomial GCD
• can find greatest common divisor for polys
• GCD: the one with the greatest degree
– c(x) = GCD(a(x), b(x)) if c(x) is the poly of greatest
degree which divides both a(x), b(x)
– can adapt Euclid’s Algorithm to find it:
– EUCLID[a(x), b(x)]
1. A(x) = a(x); B(x) = b(x)
2. 2. if B(x) = 0 return A(x) = gcd[a(x), b(x)]
3. R(x) = A(x) mod B(x)
4. A(x) ¨ B(x)
5. B(x) ¨ R(x)
6. goto 2
 Modular Polynomial Arithmetic
• can compute in field GF(2n)
– polynomials with coefficients modulo 2
– whose degree is less than n
– Coefficients always modulo 2 in an operation
– hence must modulo an irreducible polynomial
of degree n (for multiplication only)
• form a finite field
• can always find an inverse
– can extend Euclid’s Inverse algorithm to find
Example GF(23)
 Computational Considerations
• since coefficients are 0 or 1, can represent
any such polynomial as a bit string
• addition becomes XOR of these bit strings
• multiplication is shift & XOR
– Example in P.133
• modulo reduction done by repeatedly
substituting highest power with remainder
of irreducible poly (also shift & XOR)
 Summary
• have considered:
– concept of groups, rings, fields
– modular arithmetic with integers
– Euclid’s algorithm for GCD
– finite fields GF(p)
– polynomial arithmetic in general and in GF(2n)