Algebraic Structures

4.1
 ALGEBRAIC STRUCTURES

Cryptography requires sets of integers and specific

operations that are defined for those sets. The
combination of the set and the operations that are
applied to the elements of the set is called an algebraic
structure. In this chapter, we will define three common
algebraic structures: groups, rings, and fields.

Topics discussed in this section:

4.1.1 Groups
4.1.2 Rings
4.1.3 Fields
4.2
 Continued

Common algebraic structure

4.3
 Groups, Rings, and Fields
Groups
A group G, denoted by {G, } : a set of elements with a
binary operation, denoted by 
The following axioms are obeyed.
(A1) Closure : For a, b  G, a b  G
(A2) Associative : a (b c) = (a b) c for all
a,b,c  G
(A3) Identity element :  e  G such that e a =
a e = a
(A4) Inverse element : For each a,
 a1  G such that a a1 =
e
(A5) Commutative : a b = b a for a, b  G
A group is said to be abelian if it satisfies (A5)
finite group (finite order), infinite group
4.4
 Groups, Rings, and Fields
Groups
Example :
Define Sn to be the set of all permutations of n distinct
symbols. Each element of Sn is represented by a
permutation of the integers in {1,2,…, n}. Sn is a group
A1 : For ,   Sn, the composite mapping     Sn
For example,  = {3, 2, 1},  = {1, 3, 2}
   = {2, 3, 1}  Sn
A2 : The composition of mappings is easily seen to be
associative.
A3 : For Sn the identity element is {1, 2, …, n}
A4 : For any  = {2, 3, 1},  Sn ,   1 = {3, 1, 2}  Sn
{2, 3, 1} {3, 1, 2} = {1, 2, 3}
4.5
 Groups, Rings, and Fields
Cyclic Group
define exponentiation as repeated application of group
operator
a3 = a a a
let identity be : e = a0
A group G is cyclic if every element is a power of some
fixed element
b = ak for some a and every b  G
a is said to be a generator of the group G
Additive finite group G = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 }
G is cyclic group; identity = 0 ( 10 ) , generator = 1
3 = 13 = 1 + 1 + 1
4.6
 Groups, Rings, and Fields
Rings
A ring R, denoted by { R, +,  } is a set of elements with
two binary operations called addition and multiplication
such that for all a, b, c in R, the following axioms are
obeyed :
(A1 ~ A5) : an abelian group with addition operation
(M1) Closure under multiplication: for a, b  R,
abR
(M2) Associativity of multiplication : for a, b, c  R
a  (b  c) = ( a  b )  c
(M3) Distributive laws: for a, b, c  R
a  (b + c) = a  b + a  c, (a + b)  c = a  c + b 
c
Ring : the set of all n-square matrices over real numbers
4.7
 Groups, Rings, and Fields
Rings
A ring is said to be commutative if it satisfies the
following condition:
(M4) commutativity of multiplication : for a, b  R,
ab = ba
Let S be the set of even integers under the usual addition
and multiplication : S is a comm. ring. Integral domain
An integral domain, which is a commutative ring that
obeys the following axioms:
(M5) Multiplicative identity : for all a  R,
 1  R such that a1 = 1a = a
(M6) No zero divisors :
If a, b in R and ab = 0, then either a = 0 or b = 0.
4.8
 Groups, Rings, and Fields
Fields
A field F, denoted by { F, +,  } is a set of elements with
two binary operations, called addition and multiplication
such that for all a, b, c in F the following axioms are
obeyed :
(A1~M6) F is an integral domain:
F satisfies axioms A1-M6
(M7) Multiplicative inverse : For each a in F, except 0,
 a1  F such that aa1 = (a1)a = 1
A field is an additive abelian group and multiplicative
group
have hierarchy with more axioms/laws
group  ring  field
4.9
 Groups, Rings, and Fields

Abelian group
(A1) Closure under addition

Group
(A2) Associativity of addition
Commutative ring (A3) Additive identity
(A4) Additive inverse
Integral Domain

Ring (A5) Commutativity of addition

(M1) Closure under multiplication
Field

(M2) Associativity of multiplication

(M3) Distributive law
(M4) Commutativity of multiplication
(M5) Multiplicative identity
(M6) No zero divisors
(M7) Multiplicative inverse

Groups, Rings, and Fields

4.10
 Continued

Example
The set Zn* with the multiplication operator, G = <Zn*, ×>, is also
an abelian group.
Example
Let us define a set G = < {a, b, c, d}, •> and the operation as shown
in Table.

4.11
 Continued

 Finite Group

 Order of a Group

 Subgroups

4.12
 Continued
Example

Is the group H = <Z10, +> a subgroup of the group G = <Z12, +>?

Solution
The answer is no. Although H is a subset of G, the operations
defined for these two groups are different. The operation in H is
addition modulo 10; the operation in G is addition modulo 12.

4.13
 Continued
Cyclic Subgroups
If a subgroup of a group can be generated using the
power of an element, the subgroup is called the cyclic
subgroup.

4.14
 Continued
Example
Four cyclic subgroups can be made from the group G = <Z6, +>.
They are H1 = <{0}, +>, H2 = <{0, 2, 4}, +>, H3 = <{0, 3}, +>, and H4
= G.

4.15
 Continued
Example
Three cyclic subgroups can be made from the group
G = <Z10∗, ×>. G has only four elements: 1, 3, 7, and 9. The cyclic , ×>. G has only four elements: 1, 3, 7, and 9. The cyclic
subgroups are H1 = <{1}, ×>, H2 = <{1, 9}, ×>, and H3 = G.

4.16
 Continued

Cyclic Groups

A cyclic group is a group that is its own cyclic subgroup.

4.17
 Continued
Example
Three cyclic subgroups can be made from the group
G = <Z10∗, ×>. G has only four elements: 1, 3, 7, and 9. The cyclic , ×>. G has only four elements: 1, 3, 7, and 9. The cyclic
subgroups are H1 = <{1}, ×>, H2 = <{1, 9}, ×>, and H3 = G.

a. The group G = <Z6, +> is a cyclic group with two generators,

g = 1 and g = 5.

b. The group G = <Z10∗, ×>. G has only four elements: 1, 3, 7, and 9. The cyclic , ×> is a cyclic group with two generators,
g = 3 and g = 7.

4.18
 Continued
Order of an Element
The order of an element is the order of the cyclic group it
generates.

Example
a. In the group G = <Z6, +>, the orders of the elements are:
ord(0) = 1, ord(1) = 6, ord(2) = 3, ord(3) = 2, ord(4) = 3,
ord(5) = 6.

b. In the group G = <Z10*, ×>, the orders of the elements are:

ord(1) = 1, ord(3) = 4, ord(7) = 4, ord(9) = 2.

4.19
 Continued
Example

A very common field in this category is GF(2) with the set {0,
1} and two operations, addition and multiplication, as shown in
Figure.

GF(2) field

4.20
 Continued
Example

We can define GF(5) on the set Z5 (5 is a prime) with addition and

multiplication operators as shown in Figure.

Figure GF(5) field

4.21
 KEY POINTS
A field is set of elements on which two arithmetic
operations (addition and multiplication) have been
defined and which has the properties of ordinary
arithmetic such as closure, associativity, commutativity,
and having both additive and multiplicative inverses.
 Modular arithmetic is a kind of integer arithmetic that
reduces all numbers to one of a fixed set [0, …, n – 1] for
some number n. Any integer outside this range is reduced
to one in this range by taking the remainder after division
by n.
 The greatest common divisor of two integers is the largest
positive integer that exactly divides both integers.
4.22
 KEY POINTS
 Finite fields are important in several area of
cryptography. A finite field is simply a field with a finite
number of elements. It can be shown that the order of a
finite field (number of elements in the field) must be a
power of a prime pn, where n is a positive integer.

 Finite fields of order p can be defined using arithmetic

mod p

 Finite fields of order pn, for n > 1 can be defined using

arithmetic over polynomials.

4.23
 Continued
Summary

Table Summary

4.24