Saturday, 7 March 2026

Exercise (5.2).1

Let $r_1 = 1, r_2 = 3, r_3 = 5, r_4 = 7$, and $a = 3$. Determine the least non-negative residues $x_j$ for

$j= 1, 2, 3, 4$ such that $ar_j ≡ x_j \pmod {8}$.

What do you notice about your results?


The following shows the least non-negative residues for $x_j$ such that $ar_j \equiv x_j \pmod 8$.

r$x_j$
13
31
57
75

Remembering that sets are unordered, we notice that the set of values of $r$ is the same as the set of values of $x_j$. 

We further notice that each value is coprime to 8.