Basic Number Theory

Lecture 15-16

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 Importance of Number Theory

Number theory is crucial for encryption algorithms and hence to

security.

Of utmost importance to everyone from Bill Gates, to the CIA, to

Osama Bin Laden.

The encryption algorithms depend heavily on modular arithmetic.

Machinery (notations and techniques) for manipulating numbers

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 Divisors

DEF: Let a, b and c be integers such that

a = b ·c
- b and c are factors of a
-a is said to be a multiple of b (as well as of c).

The pipe symbol “|” denotes “divides” so the

situation is summarized by:
b|a c|a.

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 Divisors Examples

Which of the following is true?

1. 77 | 7
2. 7 | 77
3. 24 | 24
4. 0 | 24
5. 24 | 0

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 Divisors Examples

1. 77 | 7: false bigger number can’t divide smaller

positive number
2. 7 | 77:
3. 24 | 24:
4. 0 | 24:
5. 24 | 0:

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 Divisors Examples

1. 77 | 7: false bigger number can’t divide smaller

positive number
2. 7 | 77: true because 77 = 7 · 11
3. 24 | 24:
4. 0 | 24:
5. 24 | 0:

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 Divisors Examples

1. 77 | 7: false bigger number can’t divide smaller

positive number
2. 7 | 77: true because 77 = 7 · 11
3. 24 | 24: true because 24 = 24 · 1
4. 0 | 24:
5. 24 | 0:

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 Divisors Examples

1. 77 | 7: false bigger number can’t divide smaller

positive number
2. 7 | 77: true because 77 = 7 · 11
3. 24 | 24: true because 24 = 24 · 1
4. 0 | 24: false, only 0 is divisible by 0
5. 24 | 0:

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 Divisors Examples

1. 77 | 7: false bigger number can’t divide smaller

positive number
2. 7 | 77: true because 77 = 7 · 11
3. 24 | 24: true because 24 = 24 · 1
4. 0 | 24: false, only 0 is divisible by 0
5. 24 | 0: true, 0 is divisible by every number (0 = 24 · 0)

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 Multiples up to given n

How many positive multiples of 15 are less

than 100?

Just list them:

15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90
Therefore the answer is 6.

Q: How many positive multiples of 15 are less

than 1,000,000?
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 Multiples up to given n

A: Listing is too much of a hassle. 1,000,000/15.

In general: The number of d-multiples less than N

is given by:

|{m  Z+ | d |m and m  N }| = N/d

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 Divisor Theorem

THM: Let a, b, and c be integers. Then:

1. a|b  a|c  a|(b + c )
2. a|b  a|bc
3. a|b  b|c  a|c
EG:

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 Divisor Theorem

THM: Let a, b, and c be integers. Then:

1. a|b  a|c  a|(b + c )
2. a|b  a|bc
3. a|b  b|c  a|c
EG:
1. 17|34  17|170  17|204

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 Divisor Theorem

THM: Let a, b, and c be integers. Then:

1. a|b  a|c  a|(b + c )
2. a|b  a|bc
3. a|b  b|c  a|c
EG:
1. 17|34  17|170  17|204
2. 17|34  17|340

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 Divisor Theorem

THM: Let a, b, and c be integers. Then:

1. a|b  a|c  a|(b + c )
2. a|b  a|bc
3. a|b  b|c  a|c
EG:
1. 17|34  17|170  17|204
2. 17|34  17|340
3. 6|12  12|144  6 | 144

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 Divisor Theorem

In general, such statements are proved by starting

from the definitions and manipulating to get the
desired results.
EG. Proof of no. 2 (a|b  a|bc ):

Suppose a|b.
Then there exist m such that b = am.
Multiply both sides by c to get bc = amc = a (mc ).

Consequently, bc has been expressed as a times

the integer mc so by definition of “|”, a|bc 
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 Prime Numbers

A number n  2 prime if it is only divisible by

1 and itself.
A number n  2 which isn’t prime is called
composite.

Q: Which of the following are prime?

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

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 Prime Numbers

A: 0, and 1 not prime since not positive and greater

or equal to 2
2 is prime as 1 and 2 are only factors
3 is prime as 1 and 3 are only factors.
4,6,8,10 not prime as non-trivially divisible by 2.
5, 7 prime.
9 = 3 · 3 not prime.
Last example shows that not all odd numbers are
prime.

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Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic

Any number n  2 is expressible as a unique

product of 1 or more prime numbers.

Note: prime numbers are considered to be

“products” of 1 and prime.
We’ll need induction and some more number
theory tools to prove this.
Q: Express each of the following number as a
product of primes: 22, 100, 12, 17
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Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic

22 = 2·11,
100 = 2·2·5·5,
12 = 2·2·3,
17 = 17

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 Primality Testing

Prime numbers are very important in encryption

schemes. Essential to be able to verify if a
number is prime or not. It turns out that this is
quite a difficult problem. First try:
boolean isPrime(integer n)
if ( n < 2 ) return false
for(i = 2 to n -1)
if( i |n ) // “divides”
return false
return true
Q: What is the running time of this algorithm? 21
 Primality Testing

A: Assuming divisibility testing is a basic operation –

then above primality testing algorithm is O (n).

Q: What is the running time in terms of the input size k ?

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 Primality Testing

A: Consider n = 1,000,000. The input size is k = 7

because n was described using only 7 digits. In
general we have
n = O (10k ). Therefore, running time is O (10k ).

Q: Can we improve the algorithm?

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 Primality Testing

A:
• Don’t try number bigger than n/2
• After trying 2, don’t try any other even
numbers, because know n is odd by this point.
• In general, try only smaller prime numbers
• In fact, only need to try to divide by prime
numbers no larger than n as we’ll see next:

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 Primality Testing

LEMMA: If n is a composite, then its smallest prime factor

is  n

Proof (by contradiction). 1<a<n

n=ab
a<=n or b<=n
if a> n and b> n then ab> n

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 Primality Testing

EG: Test if 139 and 143 are prime.

List all primes up to n and check if they divide the
numbers.

2: Neither is even
3: Sum of digits trick: 1+3+9 = 13, 1+4+3 = 8 so neither divisible
by 3
5: Don’t end in 0 or 5
7: 140 divisible by 7 so neither div. by 7
11: Alternating sum trick: 1-3+9 = 7 so 139 not div by 11. 1-4+3 = 0
so 143 is divisible by 11.

STOP! Next prime 13 need not be examined since bigger than .n

Conclude: 139 is prime, 143 is composite.
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 Division
Remember long division?

q the
d the
3 quotient
divisor 31 117
93
a the r the
dividend 24 remainder

117 = 31·3 + 24
a = dq + r 27
 Division

THM: Let a be an integer, and d be a positive

integer. There are unique integers q, r with
r  {0,1,2,…,d-1} satisfying
a = dq + r

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 GCD and Relatively Prime

DEF Let a,b be integers, not both zero. The

greatest common divisor of a and b (or
gcd(a,b) ) is the biggest number d which
divides both a and b.

DEF: a and b are said to be relatively prime if

gcd(a,b) = 1, so no prime common divisors.

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 GCD and Relatively Prime

1. gcd(11,77) = 11
2. gcd(33,77) = 11
3. gcd(24,36) = 12
4. gcd(24,25) = 1. Therefore 24 and 25 are
relatively prime.

NOTE: A prime number are relatively prime to

all other numbers which it doesn’t divide.
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 GCD and Relatively Prime

EG: More realistic. Find gcd(98,420).

Find prime decomposition of each number and
find all the common factors:
98 = 2·49 = 2·7·7
420 = 2·210 = 2·2·105 = 2·2·3·35 = 2·2·3·5·7

Underline common factors: 2·7·7, 2·2·3·5·7

Therefore, gcd(98,420) = 14
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 Least Common Multiple

DEF: The least common multiple of a, and b

(lcm(a,b) ) is the smallest number m which is
divisible by both a and b.

Q: Find the lcm’s:

1. lcm(10,100)
2. lcm(7,5)
3. lcm(9,21)
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 Least Common Multiple

A:
1. lcm(10,100) = 100
2. lcm(7,5) = 35
3. lcm(9,21) = 63

THM: lcm(a,b) = ab / gcd(a,b)

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 Modular Arithmetic

There are two types of “mod” (confusing):

• the mod function
• Inputs a number a and a base b
• Outputs a mod b a number between 0 and b –1
inclusive
• This is the remainder of ab
• Similar to Java’s % operator.
• the (mod) congruence
• Relates two numbers a, a’ to each other relative
some base b
• a  a’ (mod b) means that a and a’ have the same
remainder when dividing by b
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 mod function

Similar to Java’s “%” operator except that

answer is always positive. E.G.

-10 mod 3 = 2, but in Java –10%3 = -1.

Q: Compute
1. 113 mod 24
2. -29 mod 7

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 mod function

A: Compute
1. 113 mod 24: 24 113

2. -29 mod 7

36
 mod function

A: Compute 4
1. 113 mod 24: 24 113
96
17
2. -29 mod 7

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 mod function

A: Compute 4
1. 113 mod 24: 24 113
96
17
2. -29 mod 7

7  29

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 mod function

A: Compute 4
1. 113 mod 24: 24 113
96
17
2. -29 mod 7
5
7  29
 35
6
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(mod) congruence Formal Definition

Let a,a’ be integers and b be a positive integer.

We say that a is congruent to a’ modulo b
(denoted by a  a’ (mod b) ) iff b | (a – a’ ).

Equivalently: a mod b = a’ mod b

Q: Which of the following are true?

1. 3  3 (mod 17)
2. 3  -3 (mod 17)
3. 172  177 (mod 5)
4. -13  13 (mod 26)
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 (mod) congruence

• A:
• 3  3 (mod 17) True.
any number is congruent to itself (3-3 = 0,
divisible by all)
• 3  -3 (mod 17) False.
(3-(-3)) = 6 isn’t divisible by 17.
• 172  177 (mod 5) True.
172-177 = -5 is a multiple of 5
• -13  13 (mod 26) True.
-13-13 = -26 divisible by 26.
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Modular arithmetic harder examples

Q: Compute the following.

1. 3071001 mod 102

2. 23
i
 10  mod 11
 i 4 

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Modular arithmetic harder examples
A: Use the previous identities to help simplify:
1. Using multiplication rules, before multiplying (or
exponentiating) can reduce modulo 102:

3071001 mod 102  3071001 (mod 102)

 11001 (mod 102) (102X3)
 1 (mod 102).

Therefore, 3071001 mod 102 = 1.

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Modular arithmetic harder examples
A: Use the previous identities to help simplify:
2. Similarly, before taking sum can simplify
modulo 11:

 23 i   23 i 
 10  mod 11   10 (mod11)
 i 4   i 4 
 23 i
   (1) (mod 11) 10-(-1)
 i 4 
 (1  1  1  1  ...  1  1)(mod11)
 0(mod 11)

Therefore, the answer is 0. 44

 Simple Encryption

Variations on the following have been used to

encrypt messages for thousands of years.
1. Convert a message to capitals.
2. Think of each letter as a number between
1 and 26.
3. Apply an invertible modular function to
each number.
4. Convert back to letters (0 becomes 26).

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 Caesar Cipher

• earliest known substitution cipher

• by Julius Caesar
• first attested use in military affairs
• replaces each letter by 3rd letter on
• example: f (a) = (a+3) mod 26

P m e e t m e a f t e r t h e t o g a p a r t y
C P H H W P H D I WH U WK H WR J D S D U WB

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 Caesar Cipher
• can define transformation as:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
• mathematically give each letter a number
abcdefghij k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
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

• then have Caesar cipher as:

c = E(p) = (p + k) mod (26)
p = D(c) = (c – k) mod (26)

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 Monoalphabetic Cipher

• rather than just shifting the alphabet

• could shuffle (jumble) the letters arbitrarily
• each plaintext letter maps to a different random
ciphertext letter
• hence key is 26 letters long

Plain: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Cipher: DKVQFIBJWPESCXHTMYAUOLRGZN

Plaintext: ifwewishtoreplaceletters
Ciphertext: WIRFRWAJUHYFTSDVFSFUUFYA

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 Monoalphabetic Cipher

• only have 26 possible ciphers

• A maps to A,B,..Z
• could simply try each in turn
• a brute force search
• given ciphertext, just try all shifts of letters (1 to 25 in
the previous case)
• do need to recognize when have plaintext

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 Example Cryptanalysis

• given ciphertext:
UZQSOVUOHXMOPVGPOZPEVSGZWSZOPFPESXUDBMETSXAIZ
VUEPHZHMDZSHZOWSFPAPPDTSVPQUZWYMXUZUHSX
EPYEPOPDZSZUFPOMBZWPFUPZHMDJUDTMOHMQ
• count relative letter frequencies
• guess P & Z are e and t
• guess ZW is th and hence ZWP is the
• proceeding with trial and error finally get:
it was disclosed yesterday that several informal but
direct contacts have been made with political
representatives of the viet cong in moscow

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Thank You

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