Friday, 2 January 2026

Exercise (4.1).21

Show that $n^{2^p} \equiv n^2 \pmod {2^p− 1}$ where $2^p− 1$ is prime and it does not divide $n$.


Since $2^p-1$ is prime we can use Corollary 4.2

$$ n^{2^p-1} \equiv n \pmod {2p-1}$$

Multiplying by $n$ gives us the desired conclusion

$$ n^{2p} \equiv n^2 \pmod {2p-1}$$