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Ireland number theory
Problem
Find all integers for which is divisible by 19.
Solution
First note that implies . Assume now that , i.e. . Because we then have Because 19 is a prime number, the congruence has exactly two solutions, namely . This is so because can only be divisible by the prime number 19 if one of the two factors is so. This shows that iff . To find all such we create the following table, in which we first calculated to keep the numbers small.
This shows that is divisible by 19 if and only if is congruent to 7, 8, 11, 12 or 18 (mod 19).
| n (mod 19) | 0 | -1 | ±2 | ±3 | ±4 | ±5 | ±6 | ±7 | ±8 | ±9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (mod 19) | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | -3 | 6 | -2 | -8 | 7 | 5 |
| (mod 19) | 0 | -1 | ±8 | ±8 | ±7 | ∓8 | ±7 | ±1 | ∓1 | ±7 |
Final answer
All integers n with n ≡ 7, 8, 11, 12, or 18 (mod 19).
Techniques
Polynomials mod pFactorization techniques