EEM 465

FUNDAMENTALS of DATA COMMUNICATIONS

Lecture 8

Lecturer

Assist.Prof.Dr. Nuray At
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Elementary Properties of Galois Fields
Let and let “ 1 ” be the multiplicative identity. Consider the following
sequence of elements

 Since is contained in GF(q), all of the successive powers of must also be in

GF(q) by closure under multiplication.
 for some m
 Since GF(q) has only a finite number of elements, at some point, the sequence
begins to repeat values and the first element to repeat must be 1.
Theorem: Let . If t=ord( ), then t|q-1
Example: GF(5)={0, 1, 2, 3, 4} under mod-5 addition and multiplication
ord(1)=1 1|4
ord(2)=ord(3)=4 4|4
ord(4)=2 2|4
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The Euler Function

The Euler function evaluated at an integer t is the number of elements in the set
{ 1, 2,…, t-1} that are relatively prime to t.

Example:
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Multiplicative Structure of GF(q)

1. If t does not divide (q-1), then there are no elements of order t in GF(q)
2. If t|q-1, then there are elements of order t in GF(q)

Definition: An element with order (q-1) in GF(q) is called a primitive element

 In GF(q), there are exactly primitive elements

 Every field GF(q) contains at least one primitive element 𝛼
 Let 𝛼 be a primitive element in GF(q) and consider the sequence

Thus, all nonzero elements in GF(q) can be represented as (q-1) consecutive

powers of a primitive element 𝛼
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Example: Consider GF(5)={0, 1, 2, 3 , 4} with mod-5 addition and multiplication

There are primitive elements in GF(5)
The primitive elements are 2 and 3.

Additive Structure of GF(q)

All Galois fields contain a multiplicative identity element “ 1 ”. Consider the
following sequence
0, 1, 1+1, 1+1+1, …, 1+···+1
2(1) 3(1) m(1): the summation of m ones
 Since the field is finite, this sequence must begin to repeat at some point
Definition: The characteristic of a Galois field GF(q) is the smallest positive integer
m such that m(1)=0
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Theorem: The characteristic of a Galois field is always a prime integer.

Theorem: The order q of a GF(q) must be a power of a prime.

In summary:
 q prime, easy to construct GF(q)
characteristic is q
 q not prime, (p prime)
characteristic is p
construct GF(q) using a primitive element 𝛼
all “ + ” are mod-p
“ . ” is done by adding the powers of 𝛼 mod(q-1)
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Example: GF(4)=GF(22)
p=2, addition mod-2
Let 𝛼 be a primitive element of GF(4) satisfying
GF(4)={ }
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Polynomials over GF(q)

A polynomial of degree n over GF(q):

Such a collection of polynomials forms a commutative ring with identity

Irreducible Polynomials
A polynomial p(x) is irreducible in GF(q) if it cannot be expressed as a product of
lower-degree polynomials in GF(q)[x].

Example: Degree 2, GF(2)

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Primitive Polynomials
An irreducible polynomial p(x) ∈ GF(p)[x] of degree m is primitive if the smallest
positive integer n for which p(x) divides xn-1 is n=pm-1
 There are binary primitive polynomials of degree n

Theorem: The roots {𝛼𝑗 } of an m-th degree primitive polynomial p(x) in GF(p)[x]
have order pm-1.
 Given that 𝛼 has order pm-1, the pm-1 consecutive powers of 𝛼 form a
multiplicative group of order pm-1
 The individual powers of 𝛼 can be reexpressed as polynomials in 𝛼 of degree
(m-1) or less. These polynomials and zero form an additive group using
polynomial addition.
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 A one-to-one mapping can be defined between the distinct powers of 𝛼 and

the set of polynomials in 𝛼 of degree less than or equal to (m-1) with
coefficients in GF(p).

 The roots of an m-th degree primitive polynomial in GF(p)[x] are primitive

elements in GF(pm)

The construction of GF(8)

8=23. Thus, p=2 and m=3. Need a primitive polynomial of degree 3.
is primitive in GF(2)[x]. Let 𝛼 be a root of p(x). Thus,
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The construction of GF(8) cont’d

Exponential Polynomial Vector

 Addition is performed using the polynomial representation.

 Multiplication is performed through the use of the exponential representation.
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References
Wicker, S. B., “Error control systems for digital communication and storage”
Prentice-Hall, 1995.