Saturday, 4 April 2026

Exercise (6.1).5

 Determine the order 7 modulo 60. Also find the inverse of 7 modulo 60 and solve the linear congruence

$$ 7x \equiv 59 \pmod {60} $$


Since $\gcd(7,60)=1$, Euler's Theorem tells us $7^{\phi(60)} \equiv 1 \pmod {60}$. And so the order is a factor of $\phi(60)=16$. These factors are 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16, and are the only ones we need to test.

The following calculations show $7^4 \equiv 2401 \equiv 1 \pmod {60}$.

n7^n7^n mod 60
177
24949
424011

The order of 7 modulo 60 is 4. 


This means

$$ 7^4 \equiv 1 \pmod {60} $$

Factorising

$$ 7 \times (7^3) \equiv 1 \pmod {60} $$

So the inverse of 7 modulo 60 is $7^3 \equiv 343 \equiv 43 \pmod {60}$.


We can use the inverse to solve the linear congruence

$$ \begin{align} 7x & \equiv 59 \pmod {60} \\ \\  7^{-1} \times 7x & \equiv 43 \times 59 \pmod {60} \\ \\ x & \equiv 2537 \pmod {60} \\ \\ & \equiv 17 \pmod {60}  \end{align} $$

So the solution is $x \equiv 17 \pmod {60}$.