Math 325K.

Spring 2021
Midterm Exam 2
Prof. Hector E. Lomeli

In each question, show all your work: an unjustified correct answer can only get some partial credit. You
will be graded for mathematical content and written communication skills. Partial credit may be given only
if we can determine that your line of thought is at least partially correct. Don’t forget to mark each question
in Gradescope.

1. (13 points) Prove that for all integers m and n, if m mod 5 = 3 and n mod 5 = 2 then (mn) mod 5 = 1.
√
7 2+5
2. (14 points) Let x = √ . Use a proof by contradiction to show that x is irrational.
3 2+1
3. (16 points) Let m be a positive integer. Show that, for all integers a, b ∈ Z,
a mod m = b mod m
if and only if
m|a − b.

4. (18 points) Let n ∈ Z be an integer such that 3|n. Consider the remainder r = n mod 15.
a) Prove that r is divisible by 3.
b) Show that r satisfies r ∈ {0, 3, 6, 9, 12}.
c) Find r , if n mod 5 = 2.
5. (20 points) Let n ∈ Z an integer that is not divisible by 5. Prove the following.

a) 5|(n 2 − 1) or 5|(n 2 + 1). b) 5|(n 4 − 1).

(Hint: Consider four cases: n = 5q + 1, n = 5q + 2, n = 5q + 3, n = 5q + 4.)

√ √
6. (24 points) Let x = 2 + 3. In this exercise, we will prove that x is irrational.
By way of contradiction, suppose that x = p/q where p, q ∈ N are natural numbers that have no
common factors. In particular, we suppose that either 5 6 | p or 5 6 |q. This is, at least one of the numbers
p, q is not divisible by 5.
a) Show that x satisfies x 4 − 10x 2 + 1 = 0.
b) Prove that 5| p 4 + q 4 .
c) Explain why this is a contradiction.
d) Conclude that x is irrational.