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Which mod m numbers have multiplicative inverses?

It is an important theorem that a number b between 0 and m-1 has a mod m multiplicative inverse if b is relatively prime to m. Thus if m is prime, the only number between 0 and m-1 that does not have a mod m multiplicative inverse is 0.

For example, take m=7. We saw that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 all have mod 7 multiplicative inverses.

Now consider for example m=15. The numbers from 0 to 14 that have common divisors with 15 are 0, 3, 5, 9, and 10. These numbers do not have mod 15 multiplicative inverses. All the rest do.

We recall from the Number Theory handout that tex2html_wrap_inline157 is the number of numbers from 0 to m-1 that are relatively prime to m. Combining this fact with our knowledge about multiplicative inverses, we conclude that tex2html_wrap_inline157 equals the number of numbers from 0 to m-1 that have mod m multiplicative inverses. As discussed in the Number Theory handout, for big p and q, the difference between tex2html_wrap_inline173 and pq is relatively insignificant. If you chose a random number between 0 and pq-1, it would most likely be a number that does have a mod pq multiplicative inverse.


Lisa Eckstein
Mon Oct 21 22:56:24 EDT 1996