Elementary Number Theory – Direct Proof of $n = \sum_{k|n} \phi(k)$

elementary-number-theorysummationtotient-function

If $k$ is a positive natural number then $\phi(k)$ denotes the number of natural numbers less than $k$ which are prime to $k$. I have seen proofs that $n = \sum_{k|n} \phi(k)$ which basically partitions $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ into subsets of elements of order $k$ (of which there are $\phi(k)$-many) as $k$ ranges over divisors of $n$.

But everything we know about $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ comes from elementary number theory (division with remainder, bezout relations, divisibility), so the above relation should be provable without invoking the structure of the group $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$. Does anyone have a nice, clear, proof which avoids $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$?

Best Answer

Write the fractions $1/n,2/n,3/n \dots ,n/n$ in the simplest form and you can observe that each fraction is of the form $s/t$ where $t$ divides $n$ and $(s,t)=1$. So the number of the fractions is the same as $\sum_{k|n}{\phi(k)}$ which is equal to $n$.

Related Question