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| | Math Forum - Ask Dr. Math |
 | | The word "multiplication" refers to the group operation (which is most certainly not exponentiation), which is "multiplication modulo n." This might be confusing, so I'll explain it in full detail. |
 | | So the binary operation on this set that makes it a group is called "multiplication modulo p." It is not just plain multiplication, because then one would obtain numbers not in the original set, e.g., 20. |
 | | If you are familiar with multiplicative inverses modulo a composite number, then you would know that the only way to do this is to include only those elements that are relatively prime to the modulus, namely {1, 3, 5, 7} and then define the group operation as multiplication modulo 8. |
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