Modular addition

In mathematics, modular arithmetic is a system of arithmetic for integers, where numbers "wrap around" upon reaching a certain value—the modulus (plural moduli). The modern approach to modular arithmetic was developed by Carl Friedrich Gauss in his book Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, published in 1801.

A familiar use of modular arithmetic is in the 12-hour clock, in which the day is divided into two 12-hour periods. If the time is 7:00 now, then 8 hours later it will be 3:00. Usual addition would suggest that the later time should be 7 + 8 = 15, but this is not the answer because clock time "wraps around" every 12 hours; in 12-hour time, there is no "15 o'clock". Likewise, if the clock starts at 12:00 (noon) and 21 hours elapse, then the time will be 9:00 the next day, rather than 33:00. Because the hour number starts over after it reaches 12, this is arithmetic modulo 12. According to the definition below, 12 is congruent not only to 12 itself, but also to 0, so the time called "12:00" could also be called "0:00", since 12 is congruent to 0 modulo 12.

Modular arithmetic can be handled mathematically by introducing a congruence relation on the integers that is compatible with the operations on integers: addition, subtraction, and multiplication. For a positive integer n, two integers a and b are said to be congruent modulo n, written:

if their difference a − b is an integer multiple of n (or n divides a − b). The number n is called the modulus of the congruence.

For example,

because 38 − 14 = 24, which is a multiple of 12.

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