Is this exponentation or bitwise XOR

Question

I'm reading about SRP from this page and came accross the line that says a party computes

v = g^x

I am unfamiliar with reading cryptography texts. Does this mean g^x, or g ⊕ x?

Exponentiation. ^ meaning XOR is something common in C-like languages, but not in Math AFAIK. — , Jun 20 '13 at 02:00

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 20 '13 at 10:44

5

In SRP, v = g^x means $v = g^x \mod p$, i.e. exponentiation modulo a large prime $p$.

answered Jun 20 '13 at 10:44

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 20 '13 at 12:32

1

It depends on the context, but later in this paper, the author makes it clear that he is using it to mean exponentiation:

The ``one-way'' verifier-generator P() becomes a modular exponentiation in GF(n):

P(x) = g^x

answered Jun 20 '13 at 12:32

GlenPeterson

2 Answers2