All Prime Numbers Have Primitive Roots

Abstract

If p is a prime, then the numbers 1, 2, ..., p-1 form a group under multiplication modulo p. A number g that generates this group is called a primitive root of p; i.e., g is such that every number between 1 and p-1 can be written as a power of g modulo p. Building on prior work in the ACL2 community, this paper describes a constructive proof that every prime number has a primitive root.