Remainder Theorem

Remainder theorem is a very important and interesting topic in number system and can be learnt easily. In this article we will try to learn some concepts regarding remainders with examples. Here we go! Definition of remainder If a and d are natural numbers, with d # 0, it can be proved that there exist unique integers q and r, such that a = qd + r and 0 r < d. The number q is called the quotient, while r is called the remainder. By definition remainder cannot be negative. Dividend = Divisor Quotient + Remainder. Now just to give an example, 17 = 3 * 5 + 2, which means 17 when divided by 5 will give 2 as remainder. Well that was simple! What is remainder of (12 * 13 * 14) / 5 = 2184 / 5, 2184 = 436 * 5 + 4, hence remainder 4. But this method is not the right one for us :) In order to find the remainder of an expression find the individual remainder and replace each term with the respective remainders.In the above case 12, 13 and 14 will give remainders 2, 3 and 4 respectively when divided by 5. So replace them with the remainders in the expression and find the remainder again. (2 * 3 * 4) / 5 = 24 / 5 gives remainder 4. What is the remainder of 1421 * 1423 * 1425 when divided by 12? 1421, 1423 and 1425 gives 5, 7 and 9 as remainders respectively when divided by 12. The given expression can be written as (5 * 7 * 9) / 12, Gives a remainder of 3. Find the reminder when 1! + 2! + 3! + . . . . .. . .. 99! + 100! is divided by the product of first 7 natural numbers From 7! the remainder will be zero. Why ? because 7! is nothing but product of first 7 natural numbers and all factorial after that will have 7! as one of the factor. so we are concerned only factorials till 7!, i.e, 1! + 2! + 3! + 4! + 5! + 6! 1! + 2! + 3! + 4! + 5! + 6! = 873 and as 7! > 873 our remainder will be 873 What is the remainder when 64999 is divided by 7? Many of us get intimidated with such numbers, but as we told earlier all it takes to crack quant is a strong hold of basic concepts and keeping them closer.

64999 is nothing but 64 * 64 * . 64 (999 times) We need to find the remainder when (64 * 64 * 999 times) is divided by 7 64 gives a remainder 1 when divided by 7, hence it is 1 * 1999 times / 7 which gives a remainder 1. Some useful concepts while dealing with remainder are given below. (ax + 1)n / a gives a remainder 1 for all values of n. Find the remainder when 6499 is divided by 7 6499 / 7 = (7 * 9 + 1)99 / 7, remainder =1. (ax - 1)n / a gives a remainder 1 when n is even and (a-1) when n is odd. Find the remainder when 21875 is divided by 17. 21 / 17 gives a remainder of 4, so we need to find 4875/ 17 42 = 16 = (17 1), we can write the expression as (42)437 * 4 / 17 = (17 1)437* 4 / 17 = (17-1) * 4 / 17 = 64 / 17, gives remainder 13. (an + bn) is divisible by (a + b) when n is odd. (2101 + 3101) is completely divisible by 5 (= 2 + 3). (an - bn) is divisible by (a + b) when n is even. (5100 2100) is completely divisible by 7 (= 5 + 2) (an - bn) is always divisible by (a - b). Now we can say (10175 7675) / 25 gives a remainder zero within no time..! The remainder when f(x) = a + bx + cx2+ dx3+ is divided by (x-a) is f(a).. Remainder [(3x2 + 4x + 1) / (x-2)] = 3 * 22 + 4 * 2 + 1 = 21 Eulers Remainder Theorem In number theory, Euler's totient or phi function, (n) is an arithmetic function that counts the number of positive integers less than or equal to n that are relatively prime to n. If n is a positive integer, then (n) is the number of integers k in the range 1 k n which are co primes to n ( GCD(n, k) = 1). Take n = 9, then 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8, are relatively prime to 9. Therefore, (9) = 6.

How to find Eulers totient? Say n = P1a x P2b x P3c (n) = n x (1 - 1/P1) x (1 - 1/P2) x (1 - 1/P3) (100) = 100 x (1-1 / 2) x (1- 1 / 5) = 100 x 1 / 2 x 4 / 5 = 40. (9) = 9 x (1 1/3) = 6. Eulers Remainder theorem states that for co prime numbers M and N, Remainder [M(N) / N] = 1 What is the remainder when 21875 is divided by 17 21 and 17 are co prime numbers. (Always check whether the numbers given in the problem are co primes are not. Eulers theorem is applicable only for co prime numbers) (17) = 17 x ( 1 1 / 17) = 16. So Eulers theorem says Remainder [ 2116/ 17 ] = 1 Now 21875 can be written as 2116 * 54 x 2111 First part gives remainder 1 on division by 17 we need to find only the remainder of 2111 / 17 21 on division by 17 gives a remainder of 4, so it comes to 4 11 / 17. 42 = 17 1 so it is still reduced to (17-1)5 x 4 / 17 (ax - 1)n / a gives a remainder(a-1) when n is odd Above expression can be written as 16 x 4 / 17 which gives a remainder 13 Fermats little theorem Eulers theorem says that if p is a prime numberand a and p are co -primes then a(p) / p gives a remainder of 1. Now we know for any prime number p, (p) = p - 1 . ( why so ? ) So, Remainder of a( p 1 )/ p is 1, which is Fermats little theorem. We can derive other useful results like Remainder of ap / p is a.

(ap a) is always divisible by a. Wilsons theorem Remainder of (p-1)! / p is (p-1), if p is a prime number. Here also we can derive some useful results like Remainder of [(p-1)! + 1] / p is zero. Remainder of (p-2)! / p is 1. Remainder of [50!/51] = 50 Remainder of [49!/51] = 1 Concept of negative remainder We saw earlier that by definition remainder cannot be negative. But considering negative remainder is a very useful exam trick. For example, What is the remainder when 211 divided by 3? We can use some of the above mentioned methods here, but the easiest one will be using the concept of negative remainders. Here 2 when divided by 3 gives a remainder of -1. (Say) 2 = 3 * 1 + (-1), remainder is -1, which is not theoretically correct but lets cheat! So we are asked to find (-1) * (-1) * 11 times divided by 3. Which is -1/3, remainder -1. Whenever you are getting negative number as a remainder, make it positive by adding the divisor to the negative remainder. Here required answer is 3 + (-1) = 2. Remainder when (41 * 42) is divided by 43 Use negative remainder concept, We can write the above expression as (-2) * (-1) = -2 ( as 41 = 43 * 1 2 and 42 = 43 * 1 1) Answer = 2 (here we got a positive remainder itself, so no need of correction)

Now for your brain cells, what is the remainder when 1499 is divided by 15? Cyclic property of remainders Sometimes it is easy to find the remainder by using the cyclic property of remainders, remainders forming a pattern. As a thumb rule if we divide pn with q, the remainder will follow a pattern. For example, Remainder when 21 is divided by 3 = 2 Remainder when 22 is divided by 3 = 1 Remainder when 23 is divided by 3 = 2 Remainder when 24 is divided by 3 = 1 and so on. Pattern repeats in cycles of 2. Remainder is 2 when n is odd and 1 when n is even. Now if we are asked to find remainder when 23276 divided by 3 we can answer it very quickly because we know the pattern :) One more, Remainder when 91 is divided by 11 = 9 Remainder when 92 is divided by 11 = 4 Remainder when 93 is divided by 11 = 3 Remainder when 94 is divided by 11 = 5 Remainder when 95 is divided by 11 = 1 Remainder when 96 is divided by 11 = 9 Remainder when 97 is divided by 11 = 4 Remainder when 98 is divided by 11 = 3 Pattern repeats in cycles of 5. So if we are asked to find the remainder when 9100 by 11 we know it is 1. (100 is in the form 5n and we know remainder for 5 is 1.. cool na :) ) Note: Remainder [93/11] = Remainder [Remainder [92/11] * Remainder [92/11] ) / 11] = Remainder [ 4 * 9 / 11] = 3. This funda comes very handy in scenarios like this. Like we dont have to solve Rem [98 /11] because we already know Rem[94 /11] as 5.. Rem [98 /11] = Rem [ (5 * 5) / 11 ] = 3 Also, Rem [97 /11] = Rem [ ( 3 * 5 ) / 11 ] = 4 ( as Rem [93 /11] = 3 and Rem [94 /11] = 5 )

What is the remainder when 7100 is divided by 4? 71 divided by 4 gives a remainder of 3 72 divided by 4 gives a remainder of 1 73 divided by 4 gives a remainder of 3 74 divided by 4 gives a remainder of 1 and so on Pattern repeats in cycles of 2. 7n when divided by 4 gives a remainder of 3 when n is odd and a remainder 1 when n is even. 7100 when divided by 4 gives a remainder of 1. (Same can be solved using other methods also) Find the remainder when 399^99 is divided by7 Find the pattern of remainder when 3n is divided by 7. 31 / 7 gives remainder 3 32 / 7 gives remainder 2 33 / 7 gives remainder 6 (Dont calculate Rem[33/7] we already have Rem[31/7] & Rem[32/7]) 34 / 7 gives remainder 4 (using Rem[32/7]) 35 / 7 gives remainder 5 (using Rem[33/7] and Rem[32/7] ) 36 / 7 gives remainder 1 (using Rem[33/7]) 37 / 7 gives remainder 3 (using Rem[33/7] and Rem[34/7] ) 38 / 7 gives remainder 2 (using Rem[34/7]) Pattern repeats in cycles of 6. (We can do this easily from Eulers theorem, as (7) = 6, hence Remainder [36/7] = 1. Explained just to get the idea of patterns in remainders) Now our task is to find the remainder of 9999/6 Remainder [9999/6] = Remainder [399/6] 31/6 gives remainder 3 32/6 gives remainder 3 33/6 gives remainder 3 and so on..!

Hence 9999 can be written as 6n + 3. So 399^99 / 7 is in the form 3(6n + 3)/ 7 we have found out the pattern repeats in cycles of 6. So the remainder is same as 33/7 = 6 :) Find the remainder when 9797^97 is divided by 11 Remainder [9797^97/11] = Remainder [997^97/11] (as Remainder [97/11] = 9) From Eulers theorem, Remainder [910/11] = 1 97 and 10 are again co primes. So (10) = 10 (1-1/2) (1-1/5) = 4 Remainder [974/11] = 1 97 = 4n + 1, So Remainder [9797/11] = Remainder [97/10] = 7 Means 9797 can be written as 10n + 7 Now our original question, Remainder [997^97/11] = Remainder [910n+7/11] = Remainder [97/11] = 4 :) Note: One common mistake while dealing with remainders is when we have common factors in both dividend and divisor. Example, what is the remainder when 15 is divided by 9 15 / 9 is same as 5 / 3, remainder 2. Correct? No 15/9 will give a remainder of 6. Where we slipped? Always remember that if we find remainder after cancelling common terms make sure we multiply the remainder obtained with the common factors we removed. In previous case we will get correct answer (6) when we multiply the remainder obtained (2) with the common factor we removed (3). I hope the explanations are clear are correct. Please let me know if any concepts regarding remainders are missed out or incase of any errors.. Happy learning :)