Let be a positive integer. Given an integer coefficient polynomial , define its *signature modulo * to be the (ordered) sequence modulo . Of the such -term sequences of integers modulo , how many are the signature of some polynomial if
a) is a positive integer not divisible by the square of a prime.
b) is a positive integer not divisible by the cube of a prime.
Solution
Let be a positive integer. Given an integer coefficient polynomial , define its signature modulo to be the (ordered) sequence modulo . Of the such -term sequences of integers modulo , we need to determine how many are the signature of some polynomial under the following conditions:
a) is a positive integer not divisible by the square of a prime.
b) is a positive integer not divisible by the cube of a prime.
### Solution:
Part (a):
Let , where are distinct primes. We need to find the number of signatures modulo .
Lemma 1: There is a polynomial for all signatures modulo for any prime . Thus, there are possible signatures modulo .
Lemma 2: If we have a polynomial modulo and a polynomial modulo , where and are coprime, then we can find an modulo such that and .
Using Lemma 2 repeatedly, we can combine the signatures modulo each to get a signature modulo . Therefore, the number of signatures modulo is:
Part (b):
Let , where are distinct primes and are distinct primes not divisible by the cube of a prime.
Lemma 6: For any sequence of numbers, , we can find a polynomial that has its signature starting with . There are signatures modulo .
Using similar reasoning as in part (a), the number of signatures modulo is:
The answer is: