Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 1

1.) Prove that 101 divides 1014502 +1.

Since 101 is a prime, Fermat’s little theorem says that 10101−1 = 10100 is congruent to 1 modulo
101. Since 14502 ≡ 2 (mod 100), we deduce that

1014502 + 1 ≡ 102 + 1 = 101 ≡ 0 (mod 101).

Thus 101 does divide 1014502 +1.

Aside: One could proceed in an even more elementary fashion.

1014502 + 1 = 1007251 + 1 ≡ (−1)7251 + 1 ≡ 0 (mod 101).

p
3
√
2.) Prove that 2 + 3 is irrational.
p
3
√ 2
√ α := 2 + 3 is rational. Then so is α − 2 (since the rational number form a field).
Suppose that
Therefore, 3 is rational. √
We know that this is impossible. To prove it, suppose that 3 = a/b for integers a and b. Consider

a2 = 3b2 .

We find that 3 divides the left hand side an even number of times and that 3 divides the right hand
side
√ an odd number of times; this contradicts the fundamental theorem of arithmetic and hence
3 (and also α is irrational).
Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 3

4.) My RSA public key is (n, e) = (55, 27). An encrypted message c = 4 is sent to me. Find the
original message.

First you need to factor n, we have n = 5 · 11 (the whole point being that this is really really hard
if n has 200 digits). We then have φ(n) = φ(5)φ(11) = 4 · 10 = 40. My private key is (n, d), where
d is an integer such that ed ≡ 1 (mod φ(n)). So we need to solve 27d ≡ 1 (mod 40) to find the
private key; one finds that d = 3 works. The decrypted message is then cd mod 55. This is easily
computed:
43 = 64 ≡ 9 (mod 55)
So the original message was “9”.

5.) Solve the equation

37x ≡ 3 (mod 50).

We apply the Euclidean algorithm:

50 = 1 · 37 + 13
37 = 2 · 13 + 11
13 = 1 · 11 + 2
11 = 5 · 2 + 1

So gcd(50, 37) = 1. Since 37 is relatively prime to 50, there is a unique solution x modulo 50.
We can now use back substitution to find a solution to the equation 37x + 50y = 1.

1 = 11 − 5 · 2
= 11 − 5(13 − 11)
= 6 · 11 − 5 · 13
= 6(37 − 2 · 13) − 5 · 13
= 6 · 37 − 17 · 13
= 6 · 37 − 17 · (50 − 37)
= 23 · 37 − 17 · 50.

Therefore, 23 · 37 ≡ 1 (mod 50). Multiplying by 3, we deduce that

x ≡ 3 · 23 = 69 ≡ 19 (mod 50).
Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 6

8.) Find all the solutions to the equation

x21 ≡ 3 (mod 61).

[You may use that 2 is a primitive root modulo 61. You can express your solutions as powers of 2
if you wish.]

Any solution clearly satisfies x 6≡ 0 (mod 61), so there is a unique integer 0 ≤ i < 60 such that
x ≡ 2i (mod 61) (since 2 is a primitive root mod 61). We also have 26 = 64 ≡ 3 (mod 61). So our
equation becomes:
221i ≡ 26 (mod 61)
or equivalently
21i ≡ 6 (mod 60).
This has the same integer solutions as 7i ≡ 2 (mod 20), i.e., i ≡ 6 (mod 20). Since we have the
restriction 0 ≤ i < 60, we find that i = 6, i = 26 and i = 46.

Therefore, there are 3 solutions: 26 , 226 and 246 modulo 61. If you wanted to reduce them, you
would have solutions 3, 19 and 39 modulo 61.
Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 7

9.)

i. Determine the integers n ≥ 1 for which φ(n) = 20.

Recall that φ is multiplicative. So if pe is the largest power of a prime p dividing n, then
φ(pe ) = pe = pe−1 = pe−1 (p − 1) divides φ(n) = 20 = 22 · 5.
So if e > 1, then p ∈ {2, 5}.
If e = 1, then p − 1 divides 20 and hence p ∈ {2, 3, 5, 11}.
Observe that

φ(2e ) = 2e−1 , φ(3) = 2 φ(5e ) = 5e−1 · 4, φ(11) = 10.

Using that φ is multiplicative, we obtain the following possibilities for n;

22 · 11, 3 · 11, 2 · 3 · 11, 52 , 2 · 52 ,

i.e., 44, 33, 66, 25, 50.

ii. Determine the integers n ≥ 1 for which φ(n) = n/2.

We have Y
φ(n) = n (1 − 1/p).
p|n

So we need to find the n for which

Y
(1 − 1/p) = 1/2.
p|n

Equivalently,
Yp−1
= 1/2.
p
p|n

Let q be the largest prime dividing n;

Qit does not divide p − 1 for ever p|n so it must show
up as a factor of the denominator of p|n p−1
p when writte in lowest term. Therefore, q = 2
and hence n is a power of 2. Observe that φ(2e ) = 2e−1 for all e ≥ 1. So the n for which
φ(n) = n/2 is the powers 2e with e ≥ 1.
Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 8

10.) A band of fifteen pirates upon dividing their gold coins evenly amongst themselves found
that three were left over. In the ensuing brawl, eight pirates was killed. The entire hoard was
again redistributed equally among the remaining pirates, but now two coins remained. Another
altercation broke out and three additional pirates were killed. They tried it again, and this time
the coins were distributed evenly with none left over. What is the least number of coins they could
have started with?

If x is the number of gold coins. The word problem gives rise to the equations:

x ≡ 3 (mod 15)
x ≡ 2 (mod 7)
x ≡ 0 (mod 4).

Since 15, 7 and 4 are pairwise coprime, the Chinese remainder theorem says that these equations
will have a unique solution x modulo 15 · 7 · 4 = 420.
The last equation implies that x = 4m for some integer m. Plugging into the second equation, we
find that
4m ≡ 2 (mod 7).
Multiplying by 2, we deduce that m ≡ 4 (mod 7). So for some integer n, we have

x = 4m = 4(4 + 7n) = 16 + 28n.

Plugging into the first equation, we deduce that

16 + 28n ≡ 3 (mod 15)

and hence
−2n ≡ 2 (mod 15).
Dividing by −2 gives n ≡ −1 ≡ 14 (mod 15). Therefore, for some integer t, we have

x = 16 + 28(14 + 15t) = 408 + 420t.

So the least number of coins they could have is 408.

Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 9

11.) Consider an infinite row of light switches, labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . .

• At the beginning, all switches are turned off.

• A first person comes along and flips all switches (so that now all switches are in the “on”
position).

• A second person comes along and flips every second switch (so that now switches 2, 4, 6, 8,
. . . are in the “off” position, while the other switches are still “on”).

• A third person comes along and flips every third switch (thus, turning switch 3 from “on”
to “off”, switch 6 from “off” to “on”, switch 9 from “on” to “off”, etc.).

• The process continues in this manner, with the n-th person flipping every n-th switch.

Which of the switches eventually remain in the “on” position? (For example, switch 1 remains
“on” after the first step of the process since this switch is only touched by the first person.)

[In other words, if f(n) is the number of times the n-th switch has been flipped, determine the n
for which f(n) is odd.]

This question is tricky.

The word problem implies that X

f(n) = 1,
d|n

i.e., f(n) is the number of positive divisors of n. We have seen in class, and it is easy to show
directly, that f is a multiplicative function.

For a prime p and an integer e ≥ 1, we have f(pe ) = e + 1 since the divisor of pe are 1, p, p2 , . . . , pe .
So if n = pe11 . . . per r (with pi distinct primes), we have

f(n) = f(pe11 ) · · · f(per r ) = (e1 + 1) · · · (er + 1).

In particular, observe that f(n) is odd if and only if all the ei are even. Therefore, the n-th light is
“on” at the end if and only if n is a square, i.e., 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, . . ..
.
Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 10

EASY BONUS: What was your favorite topic in the course? Explain.

This is an easy question unless you had many favorites (or no favorites).

BONUS: [do not start until you are done with the other questions]

The following is a quotation from the article “The Civil Heretic” in the New York Times Magazine,
published March 25, 2009. It concerns the well-known physicist Freeman Dyson.

Taking problems to Dyson is something of a parlor trick. A group of scientists will

be sitting around the cafeteria, and one will idly wonder if there is an integer where, if
you take its last digit and move it to the front, turning, say, 112 to 211, its possible to
exactly double the value. Dyson will immediately say, “Oh, that’s not difficult,” allow
two short beats to pass and then add, “but of course the smallest such number is 18
digits long.” When this happened one day at lunch, William Press remembers, “the
table fell silent; nobody had the slightest idea how Freeman could have known such a
fact or, even more terrifying, could have derived it in his head in about two seconds.”
The meal then ended with men who tend to be described with words like “brilliant”,
“Nobel” and “MacArthur” quietly retreating to their offices to work out what Dyson
just knew.

Show that Dyson is correct. Write down the smallest such number!

The article can be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html
The answer is
n = 105263157894736842.
Indeed, 105263157894736842 × 2 = 210526315789473684.

Finding this number can be done in a very elementary fashion. See the following post: link, which
has the following picture giving an indication of how easy it is!

.
Math 3320 (Fall 2015) Final (12/16/2015) 11

Let us now give a proof using the methods in the course:

Let n be an m-digit positive integer such that if you take its last digit and move it to the front, the
value is doubled. Let a be the last digit of n.

Our assumption on n is equivalent to

a10m−1 + (n − a)/10 = 2n.

Multiplying by 10 and rearranging, we find that

a(10m − 1) = 19n

and hence a(10m − 1) ≡ 0 (mod 19). It is clear that a 6= 0, so 0 < a < 10 and hence

10m ≡ 1 (mod 19).

One can readily check that 10 has order 18 modulo 19, i.e., 10 is a primitive root modulo 19. There-
fore, m is divisible by 18; in particular, m ≥ 18.

We now take m = 18. If such an n exists with 18 digits, then we have shown that a(10m − 1) = 19n
and hence
10m − 1 1018 − 1
n=a· =a· .
19 19
Since we want to find the smallest n, we will first try a = 1. This doesn’t work since

n = 1 · (1018 − 1)/19 < 1017

and hence has less that 18 digits.

We now try a = 2. One can check that

1018 − 1
n := 2 ·
19
is 18 digits long and hence has the desired properties.

A long division calculation allows us to recover

n = 105263157894736842.