$ab \equiv 1 \ (n)$ implies $a$ and $b$ coprime with $n$? [Proof Verification]

115 Views Asked by At

It's been a long time since I've touched anything related to elementary number theory, and I'm not convinced of my proof, which goes as follows:

Suppose that either $a$ or $b$ are not coprime with $n$. Without loss of generality, we can assume that $b$ is not coprime with $n$. Now, this implies that there exists a prime $p$ that divides both $b$ and $n$. Since $ab \equiv 1 \ (n)$, there exists $d \in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $ab = dn + 1$, and therefore

$$ ab \equiv dn + 1 \ (p) $$

but since $p$ divides $b$ and $n$, we have

$$ 0 \equiv 1 \ (p) $$

which is absurd.

Thoughts?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

Since discussion in the comments indicates my original answer is correct, I'm copying it here to close the question.

Proof. Suppose that either $a$ or $b$ are not coprime with $n$. Without loss of generality, we can assume that $b$ is not coprime with $n$. Now, this implies that there exists a prime $p$ that divides both $b$ and $n$. Since $ab \equiv 1 \ (n)$, there exists $d \in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $ab = dn + 1$, and therefore

$$ ab \equiv dn + 1 \ (p) $$

but since $p$ divides $b$ and $n$, we have

$$ 0 \equiv 1 \ (p) $$

which is absurd.