Some Topics in Elementary Number Theory

Abstract

Most of the topics reviewed in this chapter are probably well known to most readers. The purpose of the chapter is to recall the notation and facts from elementary number theory which we will need to have at our fingertips in our later work. Most proofs are omitted, since they can be found in almost any introductory textbook on number theory. One topic that will play a central role later — estimating the number of bit operations needed to perform various number theoretic tasks by computer — is not yet a standard part of elementary number theory textbooks. So we will go into most detail about the subject of time estimates, especially in §1.