A Proof of Euler's Theorem via Quandles
We prove Euler's theorem of number theory developing an argument based on quandles. A quandle is an algebraic structure whose axioms mimic the three Reidemeister moves of knot theory.
arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to António Lages.
We prove Euler's theorem of number theory developing an argument based on quandles. A quandle is an algebraic structure whose axioms mimic the three Reidemeister moves of knot theory.
A quandle is an algebraic structure satisfying three axioms: idempotency, right-invertibility and right self-distributivity. In quandles, right translations are permutations. The profile of a quandle is the list of cycle structures, one per right translation in the quandle. In this note we prove that if, for each cycle structure in the profile of a quandle, no two cycle lengths are equal, then the quandle is latin -- this is the sufficient condition mentioned in the title.
A quandle of cyclic type of order $n$ with $f\geq 2$ fixed points is such that each of its permutations splits into $f$ cycles of length $1$ and one cycle of length $n-f$. In this article we prove that there is only one such connected quandle, up to isomorphism. This is a quandle of order $6$ and $2$ fixed points, known in the literature as octahedron quandle. We prove also that, for each $f\geq 2$, the non-connected versions of these quandles only occur for orders $n$ in the range $f+2 \leq n \leq 2f$ and that, for each $f>1$, there is only one such quandle of order $2f$ with $f$ fixed points, up to isomorphism. Still in the range $f+2 \leq n \leq 2f$, we present sufficient conditions for the existence of such quandles, writing down their permutations; we also show how to obtain new quandles form old ones, leaning on the notion of common fixed point.