Multiplicative Groups and Non-Natural numbers

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It is known that the remainder of the division by $7$ of a natural number $a$ is $6$

Prove by induction that for every $n\in N$ the remainder of the division of $a^{2n}$ by $7$ is $1$.

Basically, As I understood, It's possible to use Modular Arithmetic there. So we could implement the mod (≡) symbol, and use mod7 as the operation in the induction proof.

We found that it's true for $n=1$. So we see that that's our result: $(a)2≡(−1)2$.

Then we assume that it's true for $k\in N$.

And then the final step of induction, is that if it's true for $k\in N$, we check if it's true for $k+1$. $a^{2k+2}=a^{2(k+1)}≡1 (mod 7)$.

And we see that it's true for each $n \in N$.

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Base info : $a \equiv 6~~ (\text{mod} 7) \rightarrow a \equiv -1~~ (\text{mod} 7)$.

Goal: $a^{2\cdot{\color{red}n}}\equiv1$ for all $n$.

Just do this:

    1. Lets see if it is true for $n=1$: $$(a)^2 \equiv (-1)^2~~ (\text{mod} 7)$$ $$(a)^{2\cdot{\color{red}1}} \equiv (-1)^2~~ (\text{mod} 7)$$ so base case for $n=1$ is true.
    1. Lets assume that this is true for a particular $k$, then we have to prove that this fact implies that the property holds for $k+1$

$$(a)^{2\cdot{\color{red}k}} \equiv 1~~ (\text{mod} 7)~~~(\text{true by assumption})$$

$$(a)^{2\cdot{\color{red}k}}\cdot{\color{green}{(a)^{2\cdot{\color{green}1}}}} \equiv 1\cdot{\color{green}{(1)}}~~ (\text{mod} 7) ~~ (\text{mult by base case})$$

$$a^{2k+2} = a^{2(\color{red}{k+1})}\equiv 1~~(\text{mod 7})$$

So the fact that the property holds for $k$ implies that holds for $k+1$. For the principle of induction we have that, $a^{2\cdot{\color{red}n}}\equiv1$ holds for all $n$.

NOTE: $a\equiv b ~~(\text{mod c})$ means that if we divide $a$ by $c$ ($a/c$, we will ignore the quotient and save the remainder. this remainder is $b$, so in a few words, $a\equiv b ~~(\text{mod c})$ means $a = b + ck$ for some $k\in\mathbb{Z}$ and $0\le b<c$.

further notes: for example we can say that $7 \equiv 3~~ (\text{mod 4})$ because $7 = 3 + 4\cdot1$, but also, we can say that $7 \equiv -1~~ (\text{mod 4})$ because $7 = -1 + 4\cdot2$. For example, if $a\equiv 6~~ (\text{mod 7}) $, it is because $a = 6+7k$, so we can write $7k = 7(k+1)-7$ and we will have $a = 6+7(k+1)-7 $ which means that $a = -1+7(k+1) $ this means that $a\equiv -1 (\mod 7)$

If you understand this logic, you can re-write the proof with $a|b$ notation :D

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The case $n=1$ follows from $a+1|a^2-1$. For the inductive step, use$$a^{2k+2}-1=a^{2k}(a^2-1)+a^{2k}-1.$$