[MATHEDCC] Congruency Problem

drachels@alaweb.com
Sun, 2 Aug 1998 12:13:15 -0500

Hi All,
I just finished a course in number theory and on the last day we had a
congruency problem none of us could do, including the professor. I'm hoping
one of you can enlighten me.

The problem is:

a^21 is congruent to a (mod 15)
the author gave a hint: By Fermat's Little Theorem a^5 is congruent to a (mod 5)

We think we figured out the cases where 3 and 5 do not divide a and where
both 3 and 5 do divide a. It's the other two cases where we have not figured out
what to do. Any insights or help would be apprecited.
TIA
AL Rachels
****************************************************************************
* To post to the list: email mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu *
* To unsubscribe, send mail to: majordomo@archives.math.utk.edu *
* In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe mathedcc *
* Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! *
* Archives at http://archives.math.utk.edu/hypermail/mathedcc/ *
****************************************************************************