Modular Arithmetic and Cryptography

Even the purest of pure mathematics can have a crucial influence on practical problems. In this article we show how a topic in pure mathematics (modular arithmetic) originally pursued for its own interest only, turns out to have unexpected application to an area of communication theory (cryptography...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mathematical gazette 1988-10, Vol.72 (461), p.198-202
Main Author: Reade, J. B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arithmetic
Cryptography
Cubes
Decryption
Division
Integers
Numbers
Prime numbers
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Even the purest of pure mathematics can have a crucial influence on practical problems. In this article we show how a topic in pure mathematics (modular arithmetic) originally pursued for its own interest only, turns out to have unexpected application to an area of communication theory (cryptography). The fact that at the present time it is easy to construct large prime numbers but very difficult to factorise large composite numbers has made it possible to devise simple codes which are uncrackable by known methods.
ISSN:0025-5572
2056-6328
DOI:10.2307/3618250