Genius implements modular arithmetic.
To use it you just add "mod <integer>" after
the expression. Example:
2^(5!) * 3^(6!) mod 5
It could be possible to do modular arithmetic by computing with integers and then modding in the end with
the %
operator, which simply gives the remainder, but
that may be time consuming if not impossible when working with larger numbers.
For example, 10^(10^10) % 6
will simply not work (the exponent
will be too large), while
10^(10^10) mod 6
is instantaneous. The first expression first tries to compute the integer
10^(10^10)
and then find remainder after division by 6, while the second expression evaluates
everything modulo 6 to begin with.
The inverses of numbers mod some integer are computed by writing them as rational numbers (as long as the desired inverse exists, of course). Examples:
10^-1 mod 101 1/10 mod 101
Modular evaluation also works with matrices including taking inverses, powers, and dividing. Example:
A = [1,2;3,4] B = A^-1 mod 5 A*B mod 5
This should yield the identity matrix as B will be the inverse of A mod 5.
Some functions such as
sqrt
or
log
work in a different way when in modulo mode. These will then work like their
discrete versions working within the ring of integers you selected. For
example:
genius> sqrt(4) mod 7 = [2, 5] genius> 2*2 mod 7 = 4
sqrt
will actually return all the possible square
roots.
Do not chain mod operators, simply place it at the end of the computation, all computations in the expression on the left
will be carried out in mod arithmetic. If you place a mod inside
a mod, you will get unexpected results. If you simply want to
mod a single number and control exactly when remainders are
taken, best to use the %
operator. When you
need to chain several expressions in modular arithmetic with
different divisors, it may be best to just split up the expression into several and use
temporary variables to avoid a mod inside a mod.