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jmc

number theory intermediate

Problem

Find the modular inverse of , modulo .

Express your answer as an integer from to , inclusive.
Solution
We are looking for an integer such that is congruent to 1 modulo 21. One approach is to check integers of the form , where is an integer, for divisibility by 4. We find that 22 and 43 are not divisible by 4, but is equal to . Thus times 4 is congruent to 1 modulo 21.
Final answer
16