System modular equation.

Question

Consider: $$\begin{cases} x\equiv 2 \mod 4 \\ x \equiv 2 \mod 6 \end{cases} $$ And we would like use Chinese remainder theorem but we can't because $\gcd(4,6) > 1$ How can I deal with it.

Answer 1

A more systematic approach:

By the Chinese remainder theorem, $x \equiv 2 \mod 6$ is equivalent to $x$ being both $2 \mod 2$ and $2 \mod 3$. So we can write a system of three equations:

$$\begin{cases} x\equiv 2 \mod 4 \\ x \equiv 2 \mod 2 \\ x \equiv 2 \mod 3 \end{cases} $$

The first two equations are modulo powers of the same prime, so we have to check whether they are compatible; they are (if they were not, we could immediately deduce that there are no solutions). So the condition $x \equiv 2 \mod 2$ is superfluous, it is already implied by $x \equiv 2 \mod 4$. So we end up with the following system:

$$\begin{cases} x\equiv 2 \mod 4 \\ x \equiv 2 \mod 3 \end{cases} $$

Now we have coprime numbers $4$ and $3$, so we can use the Chinese remainder theorem to finish and find the solution $x \equiv 2 \mod 12$.

Answer 2

$ \begin{array}{}{\bf Hint}\!\!\!\! &&x\equiv a\pmod{\!m}\\ &&x\equiv a\pmod{\!n}\end{array}\!\iff\, m,n\mid x\!-\!a\iff {\rm lcm}(m,n)\mid x\!-\!a$

Answer 3

Starting with $$\begin{cases} x\equiv 2 \mod 4 \\ x \equiv 2 \mod 6 \end{cases} $$ we can investigate whether these conditions can be combined. The shortest cycle that contains 4 and 6 is the lcm(4,6) = 12.

$x \equiv 2 \mod 4$ gives $x\equiv \{2,6 \text{ or } 10\} \mod 12$

$x \equiv 2 \mod 6$ gives $x\equiv \{2 \text{ or }8\} \mod 12$

Clearly only 2 can meet both conditions.

The combined condition is therefore $x \equiv 2 \mod 12$

If, instead we had been looking for, say, $$\begin{cases} x\equiv 3 \mod 4 \\ x \equiv 2 \mod 6 \end{cases} $$

there would have been no solutions.

Answer 4

$x\equiv 2\pmod 4\implies x=2+4n$ for some $n\in\Bbb Z$. So,

$$2+4n\equiv 2\pmod 6 \implies 4n\equiv 0\pmod 6$$. If $m=4n$, then $6|m$, therefore $m=12k$ for some $k$, and therefore the solutions are:

$$x=2+12k, k\in\Bbb Z.$$

Answer 5

We can also approach this by dividing by the common factor. $$ \begin{align} x/2&\equiv1\pmod2\\ x/2&\equiv2\pmod3 \end{align}\tag{1} $$

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If Luck is With Us

If we notice that these are the same as $$ \begin{align} x/2&\equiv-1\pmod2\\ x/2&\equiv-1\pmod3 \end{align}\tag{2} $$ we can immediately get the solution to be $$ x/2\equiv-1\pmod6\tag{3} $$ which is the same as $$ x\equiv-2\pmod{12}\tag{4} $$ or $$ x\equiv10\pmod{12}\tag{5} $$

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Extended Euclidean Algorithm

If we don't notice a nice relationship as we did in $(2)$, then we can resort to the Extended Euclidean Algorithm. First we solve $$ \begin{align} x/2&\equiv1\pmod2\\ x/2&\equiv0\pmod3 \end{align}\tag{6} $$ and $$ \begin{align} x/2&\equiv0\pmod2\\ x/2&\equiv1\pmod3 \end{align}\tag{7} $$ and add twice a solution of $(7)$ to a solution of $(6)$.

Here we proceed as implemented in the Euclid-Wallis Algorithm to solve $3x+2y=1$:

$$ \begin{array}{r} &&1&2\\\hline 1&0&1&-2\\ 0&1&-1&3\\ 3&2&1&0\\ \end{array}\tag{8} $$ $(8)$ gives the solution $3(1)+2(-1)=1$. This says that $x/2=3(1)$ is $1\bmod2$ and so solves $(6)$. It also says that $x/2=2(-1)$ is $1\bmod3$ and so solves $(7)$. Adding twice the solution to $(7)$ to the solution of $(6)$ gives $$ x/2\equiv-1\pmod6 $$ as a solution to $(1)$ as we got in $(3)$, which leads to the solution in $(5)$.