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TheoremStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-generatedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-27
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Division with remainder in Z\mathbb{Z}: for aZa \in \mathbb{Z} and b>0b > 0 there are unique q,rZq, r \in \mathbb{Z} with a=qb+ra = qb + r and 0r<b0 \le r < b

Statement

Let a,bZa, b \in \mathbb{Z} (The integers as equivalence classes of pairs of naturals) with b>0b > 0. Then there exist integers qq and rr with

a  =  qb+r,0r<b,a \;=\; qb + r, \qquad 0 \le r < b,

and the pair (q,r)(q,r) with these two properties is unique.

We say bb divides aa, written bab \mid a, when a=qba = qb for some qZq \in \mathbb{Z}; by the above, for b>0b > 0 this holds exactly when the remainder rr is 00.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: Integers aa and bb with b>0b > 0, and the embedding ι:NZ\iota : \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{Z}, ι(k)=[(k,0)]\iota(k) = [(k,0)], of The naturals embed in the integers.

[L1]

Z\mathbb{Z} is a commutative ring: addition and multiplication are associative and commutative, x+0=xx + 0 = x, x1=xx \cdot 1 = x, multiplication distributes over addition, and every xx has an additive inverse x-x; we write uvu - v for u+(v)u + (-v) (The integers form a commutative ring, Arithmetic on the integers).

[L2]

The order on Z\mathbb{Z} is total, antisymmetric and transitive, is compatible with addition (xyx \le y implies x+zy+zx + z \le y + z), and positives are closed under multiplication (0<x0 < x and 0<y0 < y imply 0<xy0 < xy) (The integers form a totally ordered ring, Order on the integers).

[L3]

ι\iota is injective, preserves addition, multiplication and order, and its image is exactly the set of nonnegative integers; ι(0)=0\iota(0) = 0 and ι(1)=1\iota(1) = 1 (The naturals embed in the integers, Arithmetic on the integers).

[L4]

Every nonempty subset of N\mathbb{N} has a least element (The well-ordering principle).

[L5]

On N\mathbb{N}: every k0k \ne 0 is a successor σ(j)\sigma(j) (Every nonzero natural number is a successor); σ(j)=j+1=1+j\sigma(j) = j + 1 = 1 + j (The natural numbers N\mathbb{N} (von Neumann), Addition is commutative); mnm \le n means m+t=nm + t = n for some tNt \in \mathbb{N} (Order on the natural numbers); and exactly one of m<nm < n, m=nm = n, n<mn < m holds (Trichotomy of the order on N\mathbb{N}).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

Sums and products of nonnegative integers are nonnegative: if 0u0 \le u and 0v0 \le v then uu+vu \le u + v by compatibility with addition, so 0u+v0 \le u + v by transitivity; and if either factor is 00 then uv=0uv = 0, while if both are positive then 0<uv0 < uv.

L1L2
1.2

Discreteness: if 0<x0 < x in Z\mathbb{Z} then 1x1 \le x. Indeed xx is nonnegative, so x=ι(k)x = \iota(k) for some kNk \in \mathbb{N}, and k0k \ne 0 because ι(0)=0x\iota(0) = 0 \ne x; hence k=σ(j)=1+jk = \sigma(j) = 1 + j for some jj, so 1k1 \le k in N\mathbb{N}, and applying ι\iota, which preserves the order, gives 1=ι(1)ι(k)=x1 = \iota(1) \le \iota(k) = x.

L3L5
1.3

ι\iota reflects the order: if ι(m)<ι(n)\iota(m) < \iota(n) then m<nm < n. For otherwise trichotomy on N\mathbb{N} gives nmn \le m, whence ι(n)ι(m)\iota(n) \le \iota(m) because ι\iota preserves the order, and this together with ι(m)<ι(n)\iota(m) < \iota(n) contradicts antisymmetry.

L2L3L5
1.4

Write a=ι(a1)ι(a2)a = \iota(a_1) - \iota(a_2) with a1,a2Na_1, a_2 \in \mathbb{N}, which is possible because a=[(a1,a2)]a = [(a_1,a_2)] for some naturals and [(a1,a2)]=[(a1,0)]+[(0,a2)]=ι(a1)ι(a2)[(a_1,a_2)] = [(a_1,0)] + [(0,a_2)] = \iota(a_1) - \iota(a_2).

L1L3given
1.5

Uniqueness. Suppose a=q1b+r1=q2b+r2a = q_1 b + r_1 = q_2 b + r_2 with 0ri<b0 \le r_i < b for i=1,2i = 1, 2, and set d:=q1q2d := q_1 - q_2. Ring arithmetic gives db=r2r1d b = r_2 - r_1.

L1given
2.1

From 0<b0 < b and step 1.2, 1b1 \le b, so 0b10 \le b - 1 by compatibility with addition.

step 1.2L1L2
2.2

Put q0:=ι(a2)q_0 := -\iota(a_2). Then aq0b=a+ι(a2)b=(ι(a1)ι(a2))+ι(a2)b=ι(a1)+ι(a2)(b1)a - q_0 b = a + \iota(a_2) b = \bigl(\iota(a_1) - \iota(a_2)\bigr) + \iota(a_2) b = \iota(a_1) + \iota(a_2)(b - 1), by ring arithmetic.

step 1.4L1
2.3

If 0<d0 < d then 1d1 \le d by step 1.2, so 0d10 \le d - 1 and hence 0(d1)b0 \le (d-1)b by step 1.1, that is bdbb \le db; but r10r_1 \ge 0 gives r2r1r2<br_2 - r_1 \le r_2 < b, so bdb=r2r1<bb \le db = r_2 - r_1 < b, contradicting antisymmetry.

step 1.1step 1.2step 1.5L1L2
2.4

If d<0d < 0 then 0<d0 < -d, and the same computation with the roles of the two pairs interchanged, using (d)b=r1r2(-d)b = r_1 - r_2, gives br1r2<bb \le r_1 - r_2 < b, again a contradiction.

step 1.1step 1.2step 1.5L1L2
3.1

The integer aq0ba - q_0 b is nonnegative: ι(a1)0\iota(a_1) \ge 0 and ι(a2)0\iota(a_2) \ge 0 because both lie in the image of ι\iota, b10b - 1 \ge 0 by step 2.1, and sums and products of nonnegative integers are nonnegative.

step 1.1step 2.1step 2.2L3
3.2

Hence d=0d = 0 by totality, so q1=q2q_1 = q_2, and then r1=aq1b=aq2b=r2r_1 = a - q_1 b = a - q_2 b = r_2.

step 1.5step 2.3step 2.4L1L2
4.1

Hence the set T:={kN:ι(k)=aqb for some qZ}T := \{\, k \in \mathbb{N} : \iota(k) = a - qb \text{ for some } q \in \mathbb{Z} \,\} is nonempty, since aq0ba - q_0 b is a nonnegative integer and therefore equals ι(k)\iota(k) for some kNk \in \mathbb{N}.

step 3.1L3
5.1

By well-ordering let r0r_0 be the least element of TT, choose qZq \in \mathbb{Z} with ι(r0)=aqb\iota(r_0) = a - qb, and set r:=ι(r0)r := \iota(r_0). Then a=qb+ra = qb + r and 0r0 \le r.

step 4.1L1L3L4choose
6.1

Suppose brb \le r. Then 0rb0 \le r - b by compatibility with addition, and rb=(aqb)b=a(q+1)br - b = (a - qb) - b = a - (q+1)b by ring arithmetic, so rb=ι(k)r - b = \iota(k') for some kNk' \in \mathbb{N} with kTk' \in T. Also b<0-b < 0, since 0<b0 < b, so rb<rr - b < r, that is ι(k)<ι(r0)\iota(k') < \iota(r_0), whence k<r0k' < r_0 by step 1.3. This contradicts the minimality of r0r_0.

step 1.3step 5.1L1L2L3given
7.1

Therefore brb \le r fails, and by totality of the order r<br < b; with step 5.1 this establishes existence of a pair (q,r)(q,r) with a=qb+ra = qb + r and 0r<b0 \le r < b.

step 5.1step 6.1L2
8.1

Existence is step 7.1 and uniqueness is step 3.2, so for every aZa \in \mathbb{Z} and every b>0b > 0 there is exactly one pair (q,r)(q,r) of integers with a=qb+ra = qb + r and 0r<b0 \le r < b.

step 7.1step 3.2

Remarks

  • Stated for a positive divisor only. Nothing here needs an absolute value on Z\mathbb{Z}, and none is available at this point in the reading order. The version for b0b \ne 0, with 0r<b0 \le r < |b|, follows once absolute values are in hand and is not needed by anything on this page.

  • Why it is proved here. The characterisation of the order of an element, gk=eg^{k} = e exactly when ord(g)\operatorname{ord}(g) divides kk, and the count g=ord(g)|\langle g \rangle| = \operatorname{ord}(g), are both unprovable without division with remainder (If ord(g)=n\operatorname{ord}(g) = n then gk=eg^{k} = e iff kk is an integer multiple of nn, the powers g0,,gn1g^{0}, \dots, g^{n-1} are distinct, and g\langle g \rangle has exactly nn elements; if gg has infinite order then gj=gkg^{j} = g^{k} only for j=kj = k). No earlier page in the library supplies it.

  • This is not a theory of divisibility. The relation bab \mid a is defined here for use on this page and its companion; greatest common divisors, primes and unique factorisation are developed on a later page, and that page must record that its general divisibility in a ring restricts on Z\mathbb{Z} to the relation defined here, rather than introduce a second notion silently.

  • A published claim this theorem falsified. A published example on the metric spaces companion page used to record in its Remarks that this library had no divisibility theory at all in which to state or prove Euclid's lemma. That was true when it was written; the present item, which is earlier in the reading order, made it false, and the sentence has since been narrowed to say that the example itself neither establishes nor assumes that lemma. Nothing here depends on that example, and nothing here supplies Euclid's lemma either: what is proved above is division with remainder, and no more.

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