Solving linear systems modulo n

[drido]

i need to solve a linear system modulo a composite number.

if this number is n = p*q where p and q are prime, i know i have to
solve the system modulo p and modulo q and combine the solutions
with the chinese remainder theorem.

but what if this number is a power of a prime (n = p^k) or a composition
of powers (n = p1^k1 * p2^k2) ?

How should i proceed?

[jasonp]

Originally Posted by drido

i need to solve a linear system modulo a composite number.

if this number is n = p*q where p and q are prime, i know i have to
solve the system modulo p and modulo q and combine the solutions
with the chinese remainder theorem.

but what if this number is a power of a prime (n = p^k) or a composition
of powers (n = p1^k1 * p2^k2) ?

Use Hensel's lemma; an answer mod p uniquely specifies an answer mod p^k, if the latter exists. Repeat for each p^k then use the CRT as before. The presence of powers in the CRT modulus doesn't matter (CRT only cares that the p^k are coprime to each other), though it requires finding inverses mod p^k which also needs Hensel's lemma.

[drido]

Hi,
unfortunately, after all this time, I didn't solve my problem yet: implementing in C the Index Calculus method for computing discrete logarithms. On the web I didn't find anything different by the proposed version of Studholm but it's too diffilcult to me.
Does anyone knows a simple implementation of this method?
In particular I'm in trouble to code the linear algebra step of the algorithm:
how employ Hensel-type methods for matrix algebra modulo prime powers and chinese remainder methods for gluing powers of different primes.
Any suggestions or link to other resources?

Thank you for your reply jasonp!

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by drido

Hi,
unfortunately, after all this time, I didn't solve my problem yet: implementing in C the Index Calculus method for computing discrete logarithms. On the web I didn't find anything different by the proposed version of Studholm but it's too diffilcult to me.
Does anyone knows a simple implementation of this method?
In particular I'm in trouble to code the linear algebra step of the algorithm:
how employ Hensel-type methods for matrix algebra modulo prime powers and chinese remainder methods for gluing powers of different primes.
Any suggestions or link to other resources?

Thank you for your reply jasonp!

I am not familiar with the method of Studholm, but you do have the
mathod used by Kevin McCurley etal. in their efforts.
If N is the modulus, factor it. Solve the system mod p for each prime p
dividing N. You can do this either by the Lanczos or Weidemann method.
[or even by Gaussian elim if the matrix is small enough]. Then for primes
p that divide N to a higher power than 1, raise the solution to p^k via
Hensel's Lemma. [Hensel's lemma says that if A is a solution to f(x) = 0 mod p^k , then a solution mod p^(k+1) will be of the form A + hp for some h.]

Now paste everything together by the CRT. For an effective implementation of the CRT, see my joint paper with Peter:

P. Montgomery & R. Silverman An FFT Extension to the P-1 Factoring
Algorithm, in Math.Comp.