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I was working on a problem about cubes but I kept on getting stuck on some cases because for some moduli, for example 10, there are no impossible residues. For modulo 10:

\begin{array} .N & N^3\pmod{10} \\\hline 1 & \hfill 1 \hfill\\ 2 & \hfill 8 \hfill\\ 3 & \hfill 7 \hfill\\ 4 & \hfill 4 \hfill\\ 5 & \hfill 5 \hfill\\ 6 & \hfill 6 \hfill\\ 7 & \hfill 3 \hfill\\ 8 & \hfill 2 \hfill\\ 9 & \hfill 9 \hfill\\ 0 & \hfill 0 \hfill \end{array}

All the residues are used in the $N^3\pmod{10}$ table. Also for modulo $7$ all cubes are congruent to either $1$ or $-$1 modulo $7$. My question is whether there is a mathematical reason for why this is the case. Thanks

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Yes, $\bmod 10\,$ the cube map $\,c(n) = n^3$ is a bijection by $\, a \equiv a^9 = (a^3)^3 = c(c(a))\,$ therefore $\,c\,$ is self-inverse. Indeed $\,a^9\equiv a\pmod{\!10}\,$ follows by a slight generalization of little Fermat / Euler.

You can observe this in your table: $\,2\mapsto 8\mapsto 2,\,$ $\, 3\mapsto 7\mapsto 3\,$ and others are fixed points so $\,c(c(a)) = a,\,$ i.e. $\,c^2 = 1,\,$ so $\,c^{-1} = c,\,$ i.e. $\,c\,$ is the permutation $\,(2\ 8)\,(3\ 7)\,$ in cycle notation.

More generally if $\,n\,$ is a product of distinct primes $\equiv 2\pmod{\!3}\,$ then $\,\phi = \phi(n)\equiv 1\pmod{\!3}.\,$ Hence $\bmod 3\!:\ \phi\equiv 1\,\Rightarrow\,2\phi+1\equiv 0\,$ so $\,\color{#c00}{2\phi+1 = 3k}\,$ so the above linked theorem yields

$$\bmod n\!:\,\ 0\equiv a(a^{2\phi}-1)\,\Rightarrow\,a\equiv (a^{\large\color{#c00}k})^{\large 3}\equiv a^{\large \color{#c00}{2\phi+1}} \qquad\qquad\!\!\!$$

e.g. $\, \begin{align} n &= 2\cdot 5\cdot 11 = 110\\ \phi &= 1\cdot 4\cdot 10 = 40\end{align}\ $ so $\,2\phi+1 = 27\cdot 3\ $ so $\ a\equiv (a^{\large 27})^{\large 3}\pmod{\!110}$

When $\,n\,$ is a prime $\equiv 2\pmod{\!3}\,$ the above specializes to a simple case of cubic reciprocity.


For the 2nd question, by Fermat, $\!\bmod 7\!:\ n\not\equiv 0\,\Rightarrow 0\equiv n^6-1 = (n^3-1)(n^3+1)$ so $7$ divides one of the factors by Euclid's Lemma, so $\,n^3\equiv \pm1.\,$ More generally see Euler's Criterion.

Bill Dubuque
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Yes, there is a mathematical reason. It's easiest to understand for prime moduli. Primes other than $3$ leave a remainder of $1$ or $2$ when you divide by $3$. Work out your tables for $p=5,7,11,13,17,19$ and you should see the pattern.

Fermat's Little Theorem will help you with a proof.

You can read about this at the beginning of the wikipedia page on cubic residues.

Ethan Bolker
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    -1 There is much handwaving but nothing precise. Even I cannot unambiguously ascertain how this is supposed to answer the question(s). We should strive to be much more precise and rigorous. – Bill Dubuque Dec 03 '19 at 23:44
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    @BillDubuque The multiple downvotes surprise me. What you characterize as handwaving I meant to point the OP to an exploration and a place where they could answer their own question. That seemed to work, since the answer's been accepted. I guess we have to agree to disagree about this. – Ethan Bolker Dec 04 '19 at 03:01
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    If even I can't figure out precisely what you intend then I highly doubt that the OP will have any luck. Alas, it happens quite frequently that askers accept the first (and only) answer even if they don't understand it. We should have much higher standards for answers. One could say "little Fermat or FTA will help you" for almost all elementary number theory questions. But that is not a good answer. Nor is "maybe the methods on the Wiki page will help". – Bill Dubuque Dec 04 '19 at 03:17