Sunday, 8 March 2026

Exercise (5.2).4

Determine the last two digits of $13^{1000}$.


We remind ourselves of Euler's Theorm (5.14), which states that for $n>1$ and $\gcd(n.a)=1$, then

$$ a^{\phi(n)} \equiv 1 \pmod n $$


Since $\gcd(13, 100)=1$ we have

$$ 13^{\phi(100)} \equiv 1 \pmod {100} $$

We have $\phi(100)=40$, and so

$$ 13^{40} \equiv 1 \pmod {100} $$

Noting that $1000 = 40*25$, we have

$$ \begin{align} 13^{1000} & \equiv (13^{40})^{25} \pmod {100} \\ \\ & \equiv 1^{25} \pmod {100} \\ \\ & \equiv 1 \pmod {100} \end{align} $$

So the last two digits of $13^{1000}$ are $01$.