# Section4.3The Method of Repeated Squares¶ permalink

Computing large powers can be very time-consuming. Just as anyone can compute $2^2$ or $2^8$, everyone knows how to compute \begin{equation*}2^{2^{1000000} }.\end{equation*} However, such numbers are so large that we do not want to attempt the calculations; moreover, past a certain point the computations would not be feasible even if we had every computer in the world at our disposal. Even writing down the decimal representation of a very large number may not be reasonable. It could be thousands or even millions of digits long. However, if we could compute something like \begin{equation*}2^{37398332 } \pmod{ 46389},\end{equation*} we could very easily write the result down since it would be a number between 0 and 46,388. If we want to compute powers modulo $n$ quickly and efficiently, we will have to be clever. 1

The first thing to notice is that any number $a$ can be written as the sum of distinct powers of 2; that is, we can write \begin{equation*}a = 2^{k_1} + 2^{k_2} + \cdots + 2^{k_n},\end{equation*} where $k_1 \lt k_2 \lt \cdots \lt k_n$. This is just the binary representation of $a$. For example, the binary representation of 57 is 111001, since we can write $57 = 2^0 + 2^3 + 2^4 + 2^5$.

The laws of exponents still work in ${\mathbb Z}_n$; that is, if $b \equiv a^x \pmod{ n}$ and $c \equiv a^y \pmod{ n}$, then $bc \equiv a^{x+y} \pmod{ n}$. We can compute $a^{2^k} \pmod{ n}$ in $k$ multiplications by computing \begin{gather*} a^{2^0} \pmod{ n}\\ a^{2^1} \pmod{ n }\\ \vdots\\ a^{2^k} \pmod{ n}. \end{gather*} Each step involves squaring the answer obtained in the previous step, dividing by $n$, and taking the remainder.

##### Example4.28

We will compute $271^{321} \pmod{ 481}$. Notice that \begin{equation*}321 = 2^0 +2^6 + 2^8;\end{equation*} hence, computing $271^{ 321} \pmod{ 481}$ is the same as computing \begin{equation*}271^{ 2^0 +2^6 + 2^8 } \equiv 271^{ 2^0 } \cdot 271^{2^6 } \cdot 271^{ 2^8 } \pmod{ 481}.\end{equation*} So it will suffice to compute $271^{ 2^i } \pmod{ 481}$ where $i = 0, 6, 8$. It is very easy to see that \begin{equation*}271^{ 2^1} = \mbox{73,441} \equiv 329 \pmod{ 481}.\end{equation*} We can square this result to obtain a value for $271^{ 2^2} \pmod{481}$: \begin{align*} 271^{ 2^2} & \equiv (271^{ 2^1})^2 \pmod{ 481}\\ & \equiv (329)^2 \pmod{ 481}\\ & \equiv \mbox{108,241} \pmod{ 481}\\ & \equiv 16 \pmod{ 481}. \end{align*} We are using the fact that $(a^{2^n})^2 \equiv a^{2 \cdot 2^n} \equiv a^{ 2^{n+1} } \pmod{ n}$. Continuing, we can calculate \begin{equation*}271^{ 2^6 } \equiv 419 \pmod{ 481}\end{equation*} and \begin{equation*}271^{ 2^8 } \equiv 16 \pmod{ 481}.\end{equation*} Therefore, \begin{align*} 271^{ 321} & \equiv 271^{ 2^0 +2^6 + 2^8 } \pmod{ 481}\\ & \equiv 271^{ 2^0 } \cdot 271^{ 2^6 } \cdot 271^{ 2^8 } \pmod{ 481}\\ & \equiv 271 \cdot 419 \cdot 16 \pmod{ 481}\\ & \equiv \mbox{1,816,784} \pmod{ 481}\\ & \equiv 47 \pmod{ 481}. \end{align*}

The method of repeated squares will prove to be a very useful tool when we explore RSA cryptography in Chapter 7. To encode and decode messages in a reasonable manner under this scheme, it is necessary to be able to quickly compute large powers of integers mod $n$.