Saturday, 18 April 2026

Exercise (6.2).13

Determine the order of $32 \pmod {89}$.


The order of $32 \pmod {89}$ exists because $\gcd(89,32)=1$.


Noting that $32=2^5$, we'll first work in base 2 then use the Order Formula.


The order of 2 modulo 89 is a factor of $\phi(89)=88$. These factors are 1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 22, 44, 88 and are the only ones we need to test.

The following calculations show that the order of 2 modulo 89 is 11.

n2^n2^n mod 89
244
41616
825678
1120481

The Order Formula (6.8) tells us that if $k$ is the order of $a \pmod n$, then the order of $a^s \pmod n$ is $k / \gcd(s,k)$. 

And so, the order of $32 \pmod {89}$ is $11 / \gcd(5,11) = 11 / 1 = 11$.