Totative

In number theory, a totative of a given positive integer n is an integer k such that 0 < k ≤ n and k is coprime to n. Euler's totient function φ(n) counts the number of totatives of n. The totatives under multiplication modulo n form the multiplicative group of integers modulo n.

The distribution of totatives has been a subject of study. Paul Erdős conjectured that, writing the totatives of n as

$0 < a_1 < a_2 \cdots < a_{\phi(n)} < n ,$

the mean square gap satisfies

$\sum_{i=1}^{\phi(n)-1} (a_{i+1}-a_i)^2 < C n^2 / \phi(n)$

for some constant C and this was proved by Bob Vaughan and Hugh Montgomery.^[1]

See also

• Reduced residue system

References

1. Montgomery, H.L.; Vaughan, R.C. (1986). "On the distribution of reduced residues". Ann. Math. (2) 123: 311–333. doi:10.2307/1971274. Zbl 0591.10042.

• Guy, Richard K. (2004). Unsolved problems in number theory (3rd ed.). Springer-Verlag. B40. ISBN 978-0-387-20860-2. Zbl 1058.11001.

Further reading

• Sándor, Jozsef; Crstici, Borislav (2004), Handbook of number theory II, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, pp. 242–250, ISBN 1-4020-2546-7, Zbl 1079.11001

External links

• Weisstein, Eric W., "Totative", MathWorld.
• totative at PlanetMath.org.