Solution: First observe that gcd(162, 207) = 9 and that 9|27 so the equation indeed has solu- tions. Dividing by 9 we obtain the equivalent equation
18x − 23y = 3.
Now a first step is to find one solution. We only need to find a solution to 18x − 23y = 1 (then just multiply by 3). For this we use Euclid’s algorithm which gives us
23 = 18 + 5 18 = 5 × 3 + 3 5 = 3 + 2, 3 = 2 + 1.
which in turn gives us, by working backwards, that
So (27, −21) is a solution of 18x − 23y = 3. Then 18 and 23 being coprime the solutions are the couples (27 − 23k, −21 − 18k) with k ∈ Z.
Exercise 2. 1. What is the remainder of the euclidean division of 2n by 5 for
n ∈ N? 2. What is the remainder of the euclidean divsion of 13572013 by 5 ?
Solution: 1. We have 24 = 16 ≡ 1[5]. Write n = 4k + r with 0 6 r < 4. Then 2n = 24k+r ≡ 2r [5]. We see that the remainder of 2n modulo 5 depends only on the remainder of n modulo 4. We directly compute — If n ≡ 0[4] then 2n ≡ 1[5]. — If n ≡ 1[4] then 2n ≡ 2[5]. — If n ≡ 2[4] then 2n ≡ 4[5]. — If n ≡ 3[4] then 2n ≡ 3[5]. 2. Note that 1257 ≡ 2[5] and 2013 ≡ 1[4] thus 12572013 ≡ 2[5]. Exercise 3. 1. Find all integers n such that 5n ≡ −1 (mod 13). 2. Find all integers n such that 52n + 5n ≡ 0 (mod 13).
Solution: 1. We have 54 ≡ 1[13] thus as before we find that the remainder of 5n modulo 13 depends only on n modulo 4. We find — If n ≡ 0[4] then 5n ≡ 1[13]. — If n ≡ 1[4] then 5n ≡ 5[13]. — If n ≡ 2[4] then 5n ≡ −1[13]. — If n ≡ 3[4] then 5n ≡ −5[13]. In conclusion 5n ≡ −1[13] if and only if n ≡ 2[4] i.e. if and only if n is of the form 4k + 2 for some k ∈ Z. 2. Write 52n + 5n = 5n (5n + 1). We are looking for all n such that 13 divides 5n (5n + 1) and since gcd(5, 13) = 1, by Euclid’d Lemma this is equivalent to saying that 13 divides 5n + 1 i.e 5n ≡ −1[13] which we have solved in the previous question.
Exercise 4. Let a, b ∈ N>0 be two positive coprime integers et let q > ab be an integer. Show that the equation ax + by = q has a solution in N2 (i.e. with positive x and y).
Solution: By Bézout we can always find one solution, let’s denote it (x0 , y0 ). We know that the other solutions are of the form (xk , yk ) = (x0 + kb, y0 − ka) with k ∈ Z. The sequence xk is increasing (because b > 0) and goes to −∞ when k to ∞ and to +∞ when k goes to +∞. This implies that there exists a k0 such that xk0 −1 < 0 < xk0 . Let’s show that yk0 > 0 which will prove the result. We have
q = axk0 + byk0 = a(xk0 −1 + b) + byk0
which gives byk0 = q − ab − axk0 −1 . Since ab < q, xk0 −1 < 0 and a > 0 we find that byk0 > 0 which in turn, because b > 0, implies that yk > 0 as desired.
Exercise 5. Find all integers n ∈ Z such that n ≡ 3 [17], n ≡ 4 [11], n ≡ 5 [6].
Page 2 Solution: We first find a particular solution n, then the set of solutions will be {n + 17 × 11 × 6k, k ∈ Z} by the Chineese remainder theorem. By Bezout theorem there are integers a, b, c, d, e, f such that
17a + (11 × 6)b = 1,
11c + (6 × 17)d = 1, 6e + (11 × 17)f = 1
Then n = 3 × (b × 11 × 6) + 4 × (d × 6 × 17) + 5(f × 11 × 17) is a solution. We find by Euclidean
algorithm a, b, c, d, e, f = −31, 8, −37, 4, −31, 1, then n = 4151.
Exercise 6. Let G be a group and let H be a finite subset of G which is stable under multi- plication. Show that H is a subgroup. Find a counterexample if H is not supposed to be finite.
Solution: Suppose H is finite and stable under multiplication. If x ∈ H then {x, x2 , . . . , xn , . . .}
is contained in H and is thus finite so (by Dirichlet’s principle) there exist n < m such that xn = xm which implies that xm−n = xm−n−1 x = e ∈ H which shows that e and x−1 are in H and that H is indeed a subgroup. Z − {0} ⊂ (Q − {0}, ×) gives a counter-example if H is not finite.
Exercise 7. Determine the generators of (Z/nZ, +), i.e. the elements a of (Z/nZ, +) such that
< a >:= {ka, k ∈ Z} = Z/nZ.
More generally, find the order of a (i.e. the cardinality of < a >) for any a ∈ Z/nZ.
Solution: An element a = [A] is a generator if and only if its order is equal to n, i.e. kA 6= 0 [n] for any 0 6 k < n. But this holds if and only if A and n are comprime. n More generally the order of a = [A] ∈ Z/nZ is gcd(A,n) .
Exercise 8. Dihedral group.
Let n > 2. For any a ∈ Z/nZ we let sa (resp. ta ) be the bijection of Z/nZ given by x 7→ a − x (resp. x 7→ x + a). — What are the order of sa and ta in the group (Bij(Z/nZ), ◦) ? — Show that the subgroup of Bij(Z/nZ) generated by sa , ta over a ∈ Z/nZ has cardinality 2n. — Is this group isomorphic to Z/2nZ ?
Page 3 Solution: — Clearly sa ◦ sa = Id, therefore these bijections have order two. Then the order of ta is the order of a in Z/nZ (see exercise above). — We claim that this subgroup coincides with {sa , ta , a ∈ Z/nZ}, i.e. this last set is stable by inverse and composition. For the inverse we have s−1 a = sa and t−1 a = t−a . Then sa ◦ sb = ta−b , ta ◦ tb = ta+b , sa ◦ tb = sa−b and tb ◦ sa = sa+b . — the order of an element is preserved by isomorphism : if φ : G → H is an isomorphism of groups, then the order of φ(g) in H is equal to the order of g in H. Then Z/2nZ has only [n] as an element of order two, whereas sa , a ∈ Z/nZ, are all elements of order two of our subgroup. Therefore these two groups are not isomorphic. One can also remark that this subgroup is not abelian contrarily to Z/2nZ.
