Calculate $142^{381}$ mod $773$ without a calculator .

Question

Calculate $142^{381}$ mod $773$ without a calculator .

Attempt:

$$142^{(3\cdot 127)}=142^{381}$$ By try some number's $$142^1\equiv142\pmod{773}$$ $$142^2\equiv66\pmod{773}$$ $$142^3\equiv96\pmod{773}$$

Lets check the gcd between $773,142$ $$\gcd(773,142)$$ $$773=142\cdot 5+63$$ $$142=63\cdot 2+16$$ $$63=16\cdot3+15$$ $$16=15\cdot 1+1$$ $$15=1\cdot15+0$$ $$\gcd(773,142)=1$$ How to find the answer from here ?

Answer 1

Easily we verify $\,773\,$ is prime. So $\!\bmod 773\!:\, $ if $\,142 \equiv a^2\,$ then $142^{386}\equiv a^{772}\equiv 1\,$ by Fermat, so $\,142^{381}\equiv 142^{386} 142^{-5}\equiv (142^{-1})^5.\,$ By here $\,142^{-1}\equiv 7^2\,$ so $\,142\equiv 7^{-2}\,$ is indeed a square, so $\,142^{381}\equiv 49^5\equiv 49(82)^2 \equiv 49(-223)\equiv 178.\,$ Total time: a few minutes by hand.

Answer 2

Let

$$ x = 142^{381} \pmod{773}. $$

Since $773$ is prime, by Fermat's little theorem we have

$$ 142^{772} = 1 \pmod{773}. $$

Therefore, either

$$ 142^{386} = 1 \pmod{773} $$

or

$$ 142^{386} = -1 \pmod{773}. $$

We can distinguish the two cases using Euler's criterion. To that end, we need to compute the Legendre symbol

$$ \left(\frac{142}{773}\right) = \left(\frac{71}{773}\right)\left(\frac{2}{773}\right) $$

where we used the fact that Legendre symbol is a completely multiplicative function. Next, we use the law of quadratic reciprocity to find

$$ \left(\frac{71}{773}\right) = \left(\frac{773}{71}\right) = \left(\frac{710 + 63}{71}\right) = \left(\frac{63}{71}\right) $$

and similarly

$$ \left(\frac{63}{71}\right) = -\left(\frac{71}{63}\right) = -\left(\frac{8}{63}\right) = -\left(\frac{2}{63}\right)\left(\frac{2}{63}\right)\left(\frac{2}{63}\right). $$

Substituting, we see that

$$ \left(\frac{142}{773}\right) = -\left(\frac{2}{63}\right)\left(\frac{2}{63}\right)\left(\frac{2}{63}\right)\left(\frac{2}{773}\right). $$

Now, using the property known as the second supplement to the law of quadratic reciprocity

$$ \left(\frac{2}{p}\right) = (-1)^{\frac{p^2-1}{8}} $$

we find

$$ \left(\frac{2}{773}\right) = -1 \\ \left(\frac{2}{63}\right) = 1. $$

Therefore,

$$ \left(\frac{142}{773}\right) = 1 $$

and so $142$ is a quadratic residue. Consequently,

$$ 142^{386} = 1 \pmod{773}. $$

Now, substituting $x$ and partial results listed in the question

$$ x \cdot 142^5 = 1 \pmod{773} \\ x \cdot 142^2 \cdot 142^3 = 1 \pmod{773} \\ x \cdot 66 \cdot 96 = 1 \pmod{773} \\ x \cdot 152 = 1 \pmod{773}. $$

Thus, we see that $x$ is the multiplicative inverse of $152$ modulo $773$. We can find it by computing Bézout's coefficients using Euler's algorithm

$$ 152 \cdot 178 + 773 \cdot (-35) = 1 $$

and so we see that

$$ 178 \cdot 152 = 1 \pmod{773}. $$

Therefore,

$$ x = 178 \pmod{773}. $$

Answer 3

The standard algorithmic solution to the "modular exponentiation" problem is to use "Square and Multiply Algorithm". Let me illustrate:

Suppose you need to calculate $$x^c \bmod n$$

Represent the exponent $c$ in binary:

$$c = \sum_{i=0}^{l-1} c_i 2^i$$ where $c_i$ is $0$ or $1$ and $0 \leq i \leq l-1$

Then use the following algorithm:

SAM (x, c, n){
z = 1
for i = l-1 downto 0 {
   z = z^2 mod n
   if (c_i = 1)
      z = zx mod n
   }
return z
}

Note that there are always $l$ squarings. The number of multiplications is equal to the number of $1$'s in the binary representation of $c$, which is an integer between $0$ and $l$. Thus the total number of modular multiplications is at least $l$ and at most $2l$

I used the above algorithm and found the value $178$

$x = 142, c = 381 = \{101111101\}, n = 773$

Here $l = 9$,

hence the number of squarings $= l = 9$ and

number of multiplications $ = $ number of $1$'s in the binary representation of $381 = 7$

SQUARE: 1
MULTIPLY: 142
SQUARE: 66
SQUARE: 491
MULTIPLY: 152
SQUARE: 687
MULTIPLY: 156
SQUARE: 373
MULTIPLY: 402
SQUARE: 47
MULTIPLY: 490
SQUARE: 470
MULTIPLY: 262
SQUARE: 620
SQUARE: 219
MULTIPLY: 178
===============
FINAL: 178