mod after a function

Question

I am trying to find the solution, null space, for a set of equations represented by a matrix A. The example I find is as follows:

Nullspace(A) mod 5;

I have two questions:

1 - I cannot get Maple to give me numbers it just displays the command with the Matrix in brackets. Not being able to display numbers is a common problem for me, and many times when I am doing assignments, I need numbers. I find this very frustrating, as I would like to make maximum use of Maple.

2- What does the mod extension do in this case. I have searched the help files and can find similar examples like Factor(x^3+2) mod 5; but I do not know what the mod extension does, nor can I find a reasonable explanation. Again quite frustrating.

I appreciate any help that can be offered.

Answer 1

If you don't know the meaning of mod 5, then you probably are not doing modular arithmetic. You probably want to use the command NullSpace. About which you should notice two things:

• it requires LinearAlgebra package
• commands are case-sensitive, so NullSpace is not the same as Nullspace.

Here is an example taken directly from the help file on LinearAlgebra[NullSpace]. Notice that the matrix is entered column by column.