On some symmetries of the base $ n $ expansion of $ 1/m $ : Comments on Artin's Primitive root conjecture

Abstract

Suppose $ m,n\geq 2 $ are co prime integers. We prove certain new symmetries of the base $ n $ representation of $ 1/m $, and in particular characterize the subgroup generated by $ n $ inside $ (\mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z})^\times $. As an application we give a sufficient condition for a prime $ p $ such that a non square number $ n $ is a primitive root modulo $ p $.