2.1. Introduction

In this chapter, we introduce the basic mathematical concepts that one should know in order to understand the public-key cryptographic protocols and the corresponding cryptanalytic algorithms described in the later chapters. If the reader is already familiar with these concepts, she may quickly browse through the chapter in order to know about our notations and conventions.

This chapter is meant for cryptology students and as such does not describe the mathematical topics in their full generality. It is our intention only to state (and, if possible, prove) the relevant results that would be useful for the rest of the book. For further study, we urge the reader to consult the books suggested at the end of this chapter.