MAT 361: Introduction to Number Theory and Cryptography

This course is an introduction to elementary number theory and cryptography. Among the essential tools of number theory that are covered, are divisibility and congruence, Euler'92s function, Fermat'92s little theorem, Euler'92s formula, the Chinese remainder theorem, powers modulo m, kth roots modulo m, primitive roots and indices, and quadratic reciprocity. These tools are then used in cryptography, where the course discusses encryption schemes, the role of prime numbers, security and factorization, the DES algorithm, public key encryption, and various other topics, as time allows.