Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2005/ia/paper-4/1e/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ia Paper 4 1E Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The Wilson theorem says that for a prime number . Thus , and since , we get . The Fermat little theorem says when does not divide . Applying it to gives , so is the inverse of modulo . Since , the required residue isThis is the unique representative in .
For the simultaneous integer congruences, the modulus- condition is already implied by . Write ; the modulus- condition becomes , hence . The modulus- condition then gives , or . ThereforeEvery such integer satisfies all four integer congruences; reversing the substitutions shows that there are no others. The uniqueness modulo also follows from the Chinese remainder theorem applied to the coprime moduli .
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