Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/discrete-mathematics-continuous-mathematics-and-probability/1/c/ii/solution

Let , , and . The preceding part gives . The integer congruence on the left is equivalent to
By Euclid's lemma, coprimality of and makes this equivalent to . The reverse implication is also immediate by multiplying a divisibility relation by . Therefore
This is cancellation of a common factor in a congruence. The printed equality sign in the right-hand expression is interpreted as equality of residue classes, hence the displayed integer congruence. Ordinary equality of the integers would be false: the following example has .

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