Basic Concepts of Fields

Basic concepts of Fields

• Groups, Rings, Fields
• Modular Arithmetic
• Galois Fields
• Polynomial Arithmetic
• Advanced Encryption Standards (AES)
Groups, Rings, and Fields
• branch of mathematics known as abstract algebra, or modern
algebra.
• In abstract algebra, we are concerned with sets on whose elements we can operate algebraically; that is, we
can combine two elements of the set, perhaps in several ways, to obtain a third element of the set.
Groups
A group G, sometimes denoted by {G, ·} is a set of elements with a
binary operation, denoted by ·, that associates to each ordered pair (a,
b) of elements in G an element (a · b) in G, such that the following
axioms are obeyed:
*(The operator · is generic and can refer to addition, multiplication, or
some other mathematical operation.)
(A1) Closure: If a and b belong to G, then a · b is also in G.

(A2) Associative: a · (b · c) = (a · b) · c for all a, b, c in G.

(A3) Identity element: There is an element e in G such that a · e = e · a = a for all a in

G.
(A4) Inverse element: For each a in G there is an element a' in G such that a · a' = a' · a
= e.
Cont..
 Group (Cont..)
• If a group has a finite number of elements, it is referred to as a finite group, and the order of
the group is equal to the number of elements in the group. Otherwise, the group is an infinite
group.
• A group is said to be abelian if it satisfies the following additional condition:
(A5) Commutative: a · b = b · a for all a, b in G.
• The set of integers (positive, negative, and 0) under addition is an abelian group.
• The set of nonzero real numbers under multiplication is an abelian group.
• The set Sn from the preceding example is a group but not an abelian group for n > 2.
When the group operation is addition, the identity element is 0; the inverse element of a
is –a; and subtraction is defined with the following rule:
a - b = a + (-b).
 Rings
• A ring R, sometimes denoted by {R, +, x}, is a set of elements with two binary
operations, called addition and multiplication,[2]such that for all a, b, c in R the
following axioms are obeyed:
[2] Generally, we do not use the multiplication symbol, x, but denote multiplication
by the concatenation of two elements.

With respect to addition and multiplication, the set of all n-square matrices over the real numbers is a ring.
Cont..
Rings (Cont..)
• A ring is said to be commutative if it satisfies the following additional
condition:
(M4) Commutativity of multiplication: ab = ba for all a, b in R.

Next, we define an integral domain, which is a commutative ring that obeys the following axioms:
(M5) Multiplicative identity: There is an element 1 in R such that a1 = 1a = a for all a in R.
(M6) No zero divisors: If a, b in R and ab = 0, then either a = 0 or b = 0.
Fields
• A field F, sometimes denoted by {F, +, x}, 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; that is, F satisfies axioms A1
through A5 and M1 through M6.

In essence, a field is a set in which we can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division without
leaving the set. Division is defined with the following rule:
IMPORTANT : TO READ AND UNDERSTAND
Why do we use rings, groups, fields in
cryptography
• We use these structures in cryptography because in modern times,
cryptography inevitably works on natural numbers as their base
domain, and nothing else.
• In our current computer architecture, all data is represented as
natural numbers sooner or later, and therefore it only makes sense to
focus all our efforts on this common denominator, instead of having
different cryptography for images, text, sound etc..
• Rings, groups, fields and other structures are literally what makes up
numbers (or rather the semantics on numbers).
• A direct example is the RSA public key algorithm.
Modular Arithmetic
• Modular arithmetic is the branch of arithmetic mathematics related
with the “mod” functionality. Basically, modular arithmetic is related
with computation of “mod” of expressions.
• Expressions may have digits and computational symbols of addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division or any other.
• Given any positive integer n and any non-negative integer a, if we
divide a by n, we get an integer quotient q and an integer remainder r
that obey the following relationship:
11 mod 7 = 4; -11 mod 7 = 3
IMPORTANT TO READ AND UNDERSTAND
Galois Field
• In mathematics, a finite field or Galois field (so-named in honor of
Évariste Galois) is a field that contains a finite number of elements. As
with any field, a finite field is a set on which the operations of
multiplication, addition, subtraction and division are defined and
satisfy certain basic rules. The most common examples of finite fields
are given by the integers mod p when p is a prime number.
Galois Fields
• finite fields play a key role in cryptography
• can show number of elements in a finite field must be a power of a
prime pn
• known as Galois fields
• denoted GF(pn)
• in particular often use the fields:
• GF(p)
• GF(2n)
Galois Fields GF(p)
• GF(p) is the set of integers {0,1, … , p-1} with arithmetic operations
modulo prime p
• these form a finite field
• since have multiplicative inverses
• hence arithmetic is “well-behaved” and can do addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division without leaving the field GF(p)
Polynomial Arithmetic
• can compute using polynomials
f(x) = anxn + an-1xn-1 + … + a1x + a0 = ∑ aixi
• nb. not interested in any specific value of x
• which is known as the indeterminate
• several alternatives available
• ordinary polynomial arithmetic
• poly arithmetic with coords mod p
• poly arithmetic with coords mod p and polynomials mod
m(x)
Ordinary Polynomial Arithmetic

Cont..
Polynomial Arithmetic (Cont..)
• Here a polynomial f(x) is a mathematical expression in the form anxn +
an-1xn-1 + ... + a0.
• The highest exponent of x is the degree of the polynomial. For
example, the degree of x5 + 3x3 + 4 is 5. In a polynomial, an, an-1, ... , a0
are called coefficients.
• If in a polynomial, the coefficients an, an-1, ... , a1 are all 0, or in other
words, the polynomial is in the form of a0, we call this polynomial a
constant.
• We can add, subtract polynomials by combine the terms in the
polynomials with the same powers.
Polynomial Arithmetic
• can compute using polynomials
f(x) = anxn + an-1xn-1 + … + a1x + a0 = ∑ aixi
• nb. not interested in any specific value of x
• which is known as the indeterminate
• several alternatives available
• ordinary polynomial arithmetic
• poly arithmetic with coords mod p
• poly arithmetic with coords mod p and polynomials mod
m(x)
 Ordinary Polynomial Arithmetic

• add or subtract corresponding coefficients

• multiply all terms by each other
• eg
let f(x) = x3 + x2 + 2 and g(x) = x2 – x + 1
f(x) + g(x) = x3 + 2x2 – x + 3
f(x) – g(x) = x3 + x + 1
f(x) x g(x) = x5 + 3x2 – 2x + 2
Polynomial Division
• can write any polynomial in the form:
• f(x) = q(x) g(x) + r(x)
• can interpret r(x) as being a remainder
• r(x) = f(x) mod g(x)
• if have no remainder say g(x) divides f(x)
• if g(x) has no divisors other than itself & 1 say it is irreducible (or
prime) polynomial
• arithmetic modulo an irreducible polynomial forms a field