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A factor base is a finite set of small prime numbers over which selected auxiliary integers are completely factored. Some methods also record a sign coordinate for $-1$, which is not a prime number. A positive integer supported entirely on the chosen factor base gives an exponent vector; reducing that vector modulo two records which prime exponents are odd integers. The product is a square of a number precisely when every prime exponent is an even integer.

For the original toy $N=77$, use factor base $\{2,3,5\}$ and the two relationsThe residues have exponent vectors $(0,1,1)$ and $(2,1,1)$ in the order $(2,3,5)$. Adding the two vectors modulo two gives $(0,0,0)$, so multiplying the residues gives $15\cdot 60=900=30^2$. Consequentlyand $\gcd (X-Y,77)=7$ and $\gcd (X+Y,77)=11$. Neither individual residue was a square; combining the relations made all exponents even.

In a larger collection, choose relations $x_i^2\equiv r_i(\mathrm{mod}N)$ with positive residues $r_i={\prod }_{j=1}^B{p}_j^{e_{ji}}$. If a nonempty selection $I$ has an even sum in every exponent coordinate, setThen $X^2\equiv Y^2(\mathrm{mod}N)$. Finding such a selection is a linear dependence problem over the finite field ${\mathbb{F}}_2$: the indicator vector of the chosen relations belongs to the kernel of a linear map given by the parity matrix. This is why a problem about prime factors recruits linear algebra. The final congruence of squares may still be trivial, so another selection can be needed. ^[ref].

There is a tradeoff: a small factor base gives a smaller parity matrix, but fewer auxiliary integers factor completely over it. A larger factor base accepts more relations but makes the linear algebra larger. Negative auxiliary values need an additional sign coordinate, and a selected product needs even sign parity as well as even prime exponents. Pomerance's account explains this balance and the historical development of combining smooth relations; the toy example omits algorithm-specific sieving and running-time claims. ^[ref].

Integer factorization seeks the prime factorization of a positive integer $N$. For $N>1$, this means identifying its prime factors and their multiplicities; one has the empty prime factorization. Finding one proper divisor $1<d<N$ is useful progress, but need not finish the job: factor $d$ and $N/d$ further until all factors are prime numbers.

For example, $77=7\cdot 11$ is a semiprime, whereas $231=3\cdot 7\cdot 11$ has three prime factors. Primality testing asks whether a proposed integer is prime; it need not return a factor when the answer is no. Trial division is a direct factoring method: try division by small prime numbers until a divisor is found. More elaborate methods obtain a proper divisor through a greatest common divisor of $N$ with a specially constructed integer.

The beautiful trick in congruence of squares is that two integers with equal squares modulo $N$ can reveal different factors through their sum and difference. In the worked $N=77$ example, $20^2\equiv 13^2(\mathrm{mod}77)$ gives $\gcd (20-13,77)=7$ and $\gcd (20+13,77)=11$. Computing those greatest common divisors uses the Euclidean algorithm; it does not require trying every potential factor. A factor base supplies a systematic way to construct useful equal-square relations. ^[ref].

This connection is useful in cryptography because recovering the factors of an RSA cryptosystem modulus defeats the factoring assumption behind its construction. That application concerns large, carefully chosen inputs; the small examples here explain the arithmetic mechanism and are not benchmarks or estimates of present cryptographic security.

For an odd integer $N>1$, a nontrivial square root of unity modulo $N$ is a residue $z$ with $z^2\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}N)$ and $z\not\equiv \pm 1(\mathrm{mod}N)$. Then both $\gcd (z-1,N)$ and $\gcd (z+1,N)$ are proper divisors. For $N=77$, $z=34$ works: $34^2\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}77)$, $\gcd (33,77)=11$, and $\gcd (35,77)=7$.

A congruence of squares with $\gcd (b,N)=1$ converts to this form by $z\equiv a{b}^{-1}(\mathrm{mod}N)$, using a modular multiplicative inverse. In the $a=20,b=13$ example, $13^{-1}\equiv 6(\mathrm{mod}77)$, so $z\equiv 20\cdot 6\equiv 43(\mathrm{mod}77)$. It yields $\gcd (42,77)=7$ and $\gcd (44,77)=11$. Nontriviality requires mixed sign choices across prime factors, which an odd prime number modulus cannot provide.