111Equation Chapter 1 Section 1I.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
a, b, n   and n  0, right? Prove: a mod n  b mod n if and only if: n | (a  b) 212\*
MERGEFORMAT [.]

312Equation Chapter (Next) Section 142Equation Section (Next)53Equation Section (Next)II.

BACKGROUND READING
09 M, p. 3, Th. 0.1: Division-Algorithm: Assume 1) Well-Ordering Principle (9 M, p. 3). Let “a” and “b” be
integers with b > 0. Then: there exist unique integers “q” and “r” with the property that:
a  b  q  r   a linear combination 

III. MY PROOF
Suppose: it was true that n|(a-b). Then: concerning “n”: we can phrase “n” as:
n  n0  ( a  b) n0   636\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

That means:
a mod n  a mod n0 (a  b)  a    n0 ( a  b)
b mod n  b mod n0 (a  b)  b    n0 ( a  b) 737\* MERGEFORMAT [.]
If what we claim is true, then:

???
a    n0 (a  b)  b    n0 (a  b) 838\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

An impasse. Retry.

Say, if n|(a-b), and n > 0, then it must be that:

ab 939\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

It seems that Error: Reference source not found needs a correction:

n  n0  (a  b) n0   nn0  a  b n0  
                
no .... yes ! 10310\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

Alright…that means:
nn0  b  a 11311\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

Which is of the form n  bq  r as in 09 M, p. 3, Theorem 0.1: the remainder-quotient decomposition (which is

unique: 09 M, p. 4, top).

With this substitution: the quantity “a mod n” turns out to be:

a mod n  ( nn0  b) mod n  nn0 mod n  b mod n  b mod n 12312\*
MERGEFORMAT [.]

n | (a  b)
But: , then: the quotient-remainder decomposition is:
a  b  qn n  rn in which: rn  0 and by definition: n | rn
13313\*
MERGEFORMAT [.]

Because of the uniqueness of the quotient-remainder decomposition, it is impossible to think of a decomposition

 a  b  qn n  rn in which: rn  0  does not exist! 14314\* MERGEFORMAT
[.]

So then: the quantity a mod n is:

a mod n  ( qn n  rn  b) mod n  ( rn  b) mod n  b mod n rn 0  a mod n  b mod n
n | rn
15315\*
MERGEFORMAT [.]

164Equation Section (Next)IV. QUESTIONS

175Equation Section (Next)V. THE ANSWER

Quotient-remainder decomposition for “a” and “b”:

a  nq1  r1 b  nq2  r2 ...in which: 0  r1, r2  n 18518\* MERGEFORMAT
[.]

Then: quotient-remainder decomposition for “a – b”:

a  b  n ( q1  q2 )  ( r1  r2 ) r  r 0
1 2 19519\* MERGEFORMAT [.]
In this: if n|(a-b): then it must be that:

r1  r2  0 20520\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

And then: (a-b) becomes:

a  b  n ( q1  q2 ) 21521\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

Which then tells us: if we mod both sides by “n”:

a  b  n( q1  q2 )
(a  b) mod n  n ( q1  q2 ) mod n
0
a mod n  b mod n 22522\* MERGEFORMAT [.]
n | ( a  b)
But if , then:

a mod n  (b  ( r1  r2 )) mod n  b mod n n |( r1 r2 )

by definition
23523\* MERGEFORMAT [.]