Integer and modular addition[edit]

The set of integers, with the operation of addition, forms a group.[1] It is an infinite cyclic group,
because all integers can be written as a finite sum or difference of copies of the number 1. In this
group, 1 and 1 are the only generators. Every infinite cyclic group is isomorphic to this group.
For every positive integer n, the set of integers modulo n, again with the operation of addition, forms
a finite cyclic group, the group Z/(n).[1] An element g is a generator of this group if g is relatively
prime to n (because these elements can generate all other elements of the group through integer
multiplication). Thus, the number of different generators is (n), where is the Euler totient function,
the function that counts the number of numbers modulo nthat are relatively prime to n. Every finite
cyclic group is isomorphic to a group Z/(n), where n is the order of the group.
The integer and modular addition operations, used to define the cyclic groups, are both the addition
operations of commutative rings, also denoted Z and Z/(n). If p is a prime, then Z/(p) is a finite field,
and is usually instead written as Fp or GF(p). Every field with p elements is isomorphic to this one.