Integer in the context of "Greatest common divisor"

Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example, rational numbers), or defined as generalizations of the integers (for example, algebraic integers).

Integers can be considered either in themselves or as solutions to equations (Diophantine geometry). Questions in number theory can often be understood through the study of analytical objects, such as the Riemann zeta function, that encode properties of the integers, primes or other number-theoretic objects in some fashion (analytic number theory). One may also study real numbers in relation to rational numbers, as for instance how irrational numbers can be approximated by fractions (Diophantine approximation).

A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so forth. Individual numbers can be represented in language with number words or by dedicated symbols called numerals; for example, "five" is a number word and "5" is the corresponding numeral. As only a limited list of symbols can be memorized, a numeral system is used to represent any number in an organized way. The most common representation is the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, which can display any non-negative integer using a combination of ten symbols, called numerical digits. Numerals can be used for counting (as with cardinal number of a collection or set), labels (as with telephone numbers), for ordering (as with serial numbers), and for codes (as with ISBNs). In common usage, a numeral is not clearly distinguished from the number that it represents.

In mathematics, the notion of number has been extended over the centuries to include zero (0), negative numbers, rational numbers such as one half ${\displaystyle \left({\tfrac {1}{2}}\right)}$, real numbers such as the square root of 2 ${\displaystyle \left({\sqrt {2}}\right)}$, and π, and complex numbers which extend the real numbers with a square root of −1, and its combinations with real numbers by adding or subtracting its multiples. Calculations with numbers are done with arithmetical operations, the most familiar being addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation. Their study or usage is called arithmetic, a term which may also refer to number theory, the study of the properties of numbers.

In mathematics, exponentiation, denoted b, is an operation involving two numbers: the base, b, and the exponent or power, n. When n is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, b is the product of multiplying n bases:$${\displaystyle b^{n}=\underbrace {b\times b\times \dots \times b\times b} _{n{\text{ times}}}.}$$In particular, ${\displaystyle b^{1}=b}$.

The exponent is usually shown as a superscript to the right of the base as b or in computer code as b^n. This binary operation is often read as "b to the power n"; it may also be referred to as "b raised to the nth power", "the nth power of b", or, most briefly, "b to the n".

In mathematics, the Euclidean algorithm, or Euclid's algorithm, is an efficient method for computing the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two integers, the largest number that divides them both without a remainder. It is named after the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, who first described it in his Elements (c. 300 BC).It is an example of an algorithm, and is one of the oldest algorithms in common use. It can be used to reduce fractions to their simplest form, and is a part of many other number-theoretic and cryptographic calculations.

The Euclidean algorithm is based on the principle that the greatest common divisor of two numbers does not change if the larger number is replaced by its difference with the smaller number. For example, 21 is the GCD of 252 and 105 (as 252 = 21 × 12 and 105 = 21 × 5), and the same number 21 is also the GCD of 105 and 252 − 105 = 147. Since this replacement reduces the larger of the two numbers, repeating this process gives successively smaller pairs of numbers until the two numbers become equal. When that occurs, that number is the GCD of the original two numbers. By reversing the steps or using the extended Euclidean algorithm, the GCD can be expressed as a linear combination of the two original numbers, that is the sum of the two numbers, each multiplied by an integer (for example, 21 = 5 × 105 + (−2) × 252). The fact that the GCD can always be expressed in this way is known as Bézout's identity.

In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction ⁠${\displaystyle {\tfrac {p}{q}}}$⁠ of two integers, a numerator p and a non-zero denominator q. For example, ⁠${\displaystyle {\tfrac {3}{7}}}$⁠ is a rational number, as is every integer (for example, ${\displaystyle -5={\tfrac {-5}{1}}}$). The set of all rational numbers is often referred to as "the rationals", and is closed under addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by a nonzero rational number. It is a field under these operations and therefore also calledthe field of rationals or the field of rational numbers. It is usually denoted by boldface Q, or blackboard bold ⁠${\displaystyle \mathbb {Q} .}$⁠

A rational number is a real number. The real numbers that are rational are those whose decimal expansion either terminates after a finite number of digits (example: 3/4 = 0.75), or eventually begins to repeat the same finite sequence of digits over and over (example: 9/44 = 0.20454545...). This statement is true not only in base 10, but also in every other integer base, such as the binary and hexadecimal ones (see Repeating decimal § Extension to other bases).

In algebraic number theory, an algebraic integer is a complex number that is integral over the integers. That is, an algebraic integer is a complex root of some monic polynomial (a polynomial whose leading coefficient is 1) whose coefficients are integers. The set of all algebraic integers A is closed under addition, subtraction and multiplication and therefore is a commutative subring of the complex numbers.

The ring of integers of a number field K, denoted by O_K, is the intersection of K and A: it can also be characterized as the maximal order of the field K. Each algebraic integer belongs to the ring of integers of some number field. A number α is an algebraic integer if and only if the ring ${\displaystyle \mathbb {Z} [\alpha ]}$ is finitely generated as an abelian group, which is to say, as a ${\displaystyle \mathbb {Z} }$-module.

In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Dirichlet L-functions to give the first proof of Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions. It is well known for its results on prime numbers (involving the Prime Number Theorem and Riemann zeta function) and additive number theory (such as the Goldbach conjecture and Waring's problem).