Solve $7^x -5x^3 \equiv 0 \quad \pmod{11}?$

modular arithmeticprimitive-roots

I have to study the solvability of the equation $$ 7^x -5x^3 \equiv 0 \quad \pmod{33} $$ and determine its integer solutions $ x $ with $ 0 \le x \le 110 $.

I started dividing this equation into two equations $$\cases {7^x -5x^3 \equiv 0 \quad \pmod{3} \\ 7^x -5x^3 \equiv 0 \quad \pmod{11}}.$$ For the first one I tried to substitute the values $0,1,2 $ and found that $2$ is the only possibile solution.

Then I tried to solve the second one with the method of indices:
$$ x \cdot\mbox{ind}_{11}(7)-\mbox{ind}_{11}(5)-3\cdot\mbox{ind}_{11}(x) \equiv 0 \pmod{\phi(11)}.$$ I noticed that $2$ is a primitive root $\pmod{11}$ and computed its powers which lead to $$2^4 \equiv 5 \pmod{11} \\2^7 \equiv 7 \pmod{11}.$$
The equation became $$ x \cdot 7 – 4- 3 \cdot \mbox{ind}_{11}(x) \equiv 0 \pmod{\phi(11)} \quad \longrightarrow \quad 7 x – 3 \cdot \mbox{ind}_{11}(x) \equiv 4 \quad \pmod{\phi(11)}.$$

Then I stopped because I had no clues on how to continue.
Have you any ideas?

Thank you in advance.

Best Answer

Instead of using the primitive root $2$, note that $7$ is a primitive root mod 11, because $7^2\equiv 5$ and $7^5\equiv -1$. So using 7-indices is a sensible move. We list the values: $$ \begin{array}{c|c|c} \hline x\pmod{11} & 5x^3\equiv 7^x\pmod{11} & x\pmod{10} \\\hline 1 & 5&2\\ 2 & 7&1\\ 3 & 3&4\\ 4 & 1&0\\ 5 & 9&8\\ 6 & 2&3\\ 7 &10&5\\ 8 & 8&9\\ 9 & 4&6\\ 10& 6&7\\\hline \end{array} $$ So combining the outer columns, you know ten solutions $x\pmod{110}$ and you know $x\equiv 2\pmod{3}$. Hence you can write down the ten solutions mod 330, and determine the solutions between 0 and 110.

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