Finite Fields and Cyclic codes

Cyclic codes
•Cyclic codes are a subclass of linear block codes where a
cyclic shift of a codeword produces another valid codeword.
•Cyclic codes are easy to implement
•Cyclic codes can be encoded and decoded efficiently using
shift registers.
• Their algebraic structure allows encoding and decoding to be
performed using polynomial division and multiplication over a
finite field.
•Cyclic codes are based on Galois fields
Polynomial Set Notation
 Modular arithmetic
•Modular arithmetic plays a crucial role in error detection and
correction by enabling operations on finite sets of numbers (eg
GF(2)
•Modular arithmetic deals with remainders after division.
•The modulo operation (a mod n) finds the remainder when 'a'
is divided by 'n'.
•Two integers, ‘a' and ‘b', are said to be congruent modulo 'n'
(a≡ b (mod n)) if their difference (a - b) is divisible by 'n'.
Modular Arithmetic
Modular Arithmentic with Polynomials
 Modular arithmetic
•The group of positive integers modulo a prime p
Zp*  {1, 2, 3, …, p-1}
Denoted as: (Zp*, *p)

•Example: Z7*= {1,2,3,4,5,6}

• 1-1 = 1, 2-1 = 4, 3-1 = 5, 6-1 = 6
•If a⋅b≡1 mod m then the number b is called the modular inverse of a
•Above 2-1 = 4 because when you multiply 2 by its modular inverse 4, the result is congruent to 1
modulo 7.
•For all p the group is cyclic .(A cyclic group can be generated by a single element, called a primitive
element. Every element in the group can be written as a power (or multiple) of this element.

3/25/2025 FEE522 Page 7

 Primitive Element

x X2 X3 X4
1 1 1 1
Generator 2 4 3 1
Generator 3 4 2 1
4 1 4 1

2 and 3 are primitive elements of Z*5

 Primitive element

x X2 X3 X4 X5 X6
1 1 1 1 1 1
2 4 1 2 4 1
Generator 3 2 6 5 4 1
4 2 1 4 2 1
Generator 5 4 6 2 3 1
6 1 6 1 6 1

3 and 5 are primitive elements of Z*7

Cyclic codes generation
Generating Cyclic Linear Codes
Generating Cyclic Linear Codes
 Algebraic structures

•A non empty set S is called an algebraic

structure with respect to an operation ‘ *’ if
a*b belongs to S for every a,b belongs to
S(closure under an operation).
•Algebraic structures include groups, rings and
fields.
 Algebraic structures
• Closure under Addition
• The set of integers Z is closed under addition because
adding two integers always results in another integer.
• Closure in Multiplication
The set of natural numbers N is closed under multiplication.
 Groups
• A group is a set G on which the operation addition is defined and
satisfy certain basic rules known as group axioms
• Associativity a+(b+c)= (a+b)+c
• There is an identity element e  G such that e+g=g+e =g for all g
G.
• Inverse: For every e  G there exists g-1  G such that
g + g-1 = g-1+g= e
• An example of a group is Z , the set of integers wrt to addition.
 Rings
• A ring is a set R on which the operations of
multiplication, addition and satisfy certain basic rules
known as ring axioms
• R is Commutative group under +
• R is associative under *
• Multiplicative identity: there is exists an element 1
such that r * 1=1 * r=r for all r  R
• Examples of rings are Z the set of integers wrt + and
* , R[x] the set of polynomials with real coefficients
 Fields
• A field is a set F on which has two operations of
multiplication, addition and satisfy certain basic rules
known as field axioms
• F is a commutative ring under + and *
• Every non zero f belongs to F has a multiplicative inverse.
• That is for every f belongs to F there exists g belongs to F
such that f * g=g * f=1
• Examples of fields are R,Q and C
 The Field Axioms

A field is an algebraic structure (F,+,.) where F is a set, and + and . are binary
operations (addition and multiplication respectively).
A field must satisfy the following conditions(field axioms.)
Associativity of addition.
Addition (+) is an associative operation on F .
Existence of additive identity.
There is an identity element for addition.
Existence of additive inverses. Every element x of F has an inverse for ( +)0).
The additive inverse for x is unique, and we will denote it by -x
 The Field Axioms

•Commutativity of multiplication.
• Multiplication (.) is a commutative operation on F .
i.e a x b = b x a,  a,b  F
•Associativity of multiplication.
•Multiplication (.) is an associative operation on F i.e a . ( b . c) = ( a . b ) . c

•Existence of multiplicative identity.

•There is an identity element for multiplication. The identity is unique, and is denoted by 1 .
•Existence of multiplicative inverses.
•All non zero elements have multiplicative inverses.
•Distributive law. For all a,b,c in F, .a.(b+c)=a.b+a.c
 Finite fields
• A finite field or Galois field (named in honour of Évariste Galois) is
a field that contains a finite number of elements.
• A finite field is a set on which the operations of multiplication,
addition, subtraction and division are defined and satisfy certain
basic rules known as field axioms
• The most common examples of finite fields are given by the integers
mod p when p is a prime number
 Order of field

•The number of elements of a finite field is called

its order or size.
• A finite field of order q exists if and only if the order q is
a prime power pk (where p is a prime number and k is a
positive integer).
 Finite field
•In a finite field of order q, the polynomial Xq − X has
all q elements of the finite field as roots.
•The non-zero elements of a finite field form
a multiplicative group.
•This group is cyclic, so all non-zero elements can be
expressed as powers of a single element called a primitive
element of the field.
• There will be several primitive elements for a given field
 Primitive element of GF (q)

• Primitive element of GF (q) is an element 𝞪

• such that every field element except 0 can be
expressed as a power of 𝞪
• E.g in GF(5) 2 and 3 are primitive elements
Irreducible polynomial

• An irreducible polynomial is a polynomial that cannot be factored into the

product of two non-constant polynomials.
• f(x)K[x], f(x) has no proper divisors in K[x]
• Examples
• f(x)=1+x+x2 is irreducible
• f(x)=1+x+x2+x3=(1+x)(1+x2) is not irreducible
• f(x)=1+x+x4 is irreducible
 Primitive polynomial over GF (q)

•A Primitive polynomial p(x) over GF (q) is a prime

polynomial over GF (q) with the property that in the extension
field constructed modulo p(x) the field element represented by
x is a primitive element
•A primitive polynomial is used to construct an extension field.
•The field GF(qm) is an extension field of GF (q)
•
 Minimal polynomial

The minimal polynomial of  is the monic polynomial in GF[pr] of smallest

degree having coefficients in GF(p) and has  as root. Its denoted by m(x)
Theorem
Let m(x) be the minimal polynomial of an element α
in GF[pr]). Then:
–m(x) is irreducible over GF[pr]
–If f(x) is any polynomial over GF[pr] such that f()=0,
then m(x) is a factor of f(x)
–m(x) is unique
2 r 1
–m(x) is a factor of 1 x for p=2
 Proof of Theorem

•If m(x) is reducible, then m(x) = a(x)b(x),

and since m(α) =0, either a(α) or b(α) is 0
contradicting the fact that m(x) is the
polynomial of smallest degree having α as a
root.
 Minimal polynomials in GF(8)

•The elements 0 and 1 will have minimal polynomials x and

x + 1 respectively.
•The minimal polynomial of λ,λ2 and λ4 is the
primitive polynomial x3 + x + 1.
•The minimal polynomial for the λ3 , λ5 and λ6 is
x3 + x2 + 1.
It is seen that the minimal polynomials are
divisors of x8 – x.
•x8– x = x(x+1)(x3 +x+1)(x3 + x2 + 1)
 Reciprocal Polynomials

•Theorem : If α ≠ 0 is a root of f(x), α-1

is a root of the reciprocal polynomial of f(x).
•Also, f(x) is irreducible iff its reciprocal
polynomial is irreducible, and f(x) is primitive
iff its reciprocal polynomial is primitive.
 Example
•Construct GF (8) using the primitive polynomial p(x)= x3 +x+1(prime
polynomial over GF(2))
•Let the primitive element be 𝞪
•The elements of GF(8) can be represented by the powers of 𝞪 evaluated modulo
p(x)
 Example :GF(8)
powers of 𝞪 Polynomial in x modulo p(x) Word in Binary

0 000

𝞪0 1 001

𝞪1 x 010

𝞪2 x2 100

𝞪3 x3=x+1 011

𝞪4 x4 =x2 +x 110

𝞪5 x5= x2 +x+1 111

𝞪6 x6 =x2 +1 101

𝞪7 1 001
 Example
•It is seen in the example above that x3 + x + 1 is the
minimal polynomial for λ, λ2, and λ4.
=(x +λ)(x + λ2 )(x+ λ4)
Using the above theorem, it is seen that
λ-1 = λ6, λ-2 = λ5 and λ-4 = λ3 are all roots of the
irreducible polynomial p(x)= x3 + x2 + 1, since it is the
reciprocal of the polynomial p(x)= x3 +x+1
. =(x + λ6 )(x + λ5 )(x+ λ3)
 GF(16)
Powers of 𝞪 Polynomial in x modulo p(x)= x4 +x+1 Word in binary

0 0000

𝛼0 1 0001

𝛼1 x 0010

𝛼2 x2 0100

𝛼3 x3 1000

𝛼4 x+1 0011

𝛼5 x2+x 0110

𝛼6 x3 + x2 1100

𝛼7 x3 +x+ 1 1011

𝛼8 x2 + 1 0101

𝛼9 x3 +x 1010

𝛼 10 x2 +x +1 0111

𝛼 11 x3 +x2 +x 1110

𝛼 12 x3 +x2 +x+1 1111

𝛼13 x3 +x2 +1 1101

𝛼 14 x3 +1 1001
 Minimal polynomials in GF(16)
• The elements 0 and 1 will have minimal polynomials x and x + 1 respectively.
• The minimal polynomial of λ,λ2 ,λ4 and λ8

x4 + x + 1=(x+λ)(x+λ2 )(x+λ4)(x+λ8 )
• The minimal polynomial for the λ3 , λ6 ,λ12 and λ9 is
x4 +x3 + x + 1 =(x+ λ3 )(x+λ6 )(x+λ12)(x+λ9 )

• The minimal polynomial for the λ5 and λ10 is

x2 + x + 1 =(x+ λ5 )(x+λ10 )
• The minimal polynomial for the λ3 , λ6 ,λ12 and λ9 is
x4 + x3 + 1 =(x+ λ7 )(x+λ14 )(x+λ13)(x+λ11 )

It is seen that the minimal polynomials are divisors of x16 – x.

• x16– x = x(x+1)(x4 +x+1)(x4 + x3 +x + 1)(x2 + x + 1 )(x4 + x3 + 1 )
BCH Codes Example
•BCH codes are cyclic error correcting codes constructed over GF
•BCH can correct multiple errors
•The structure of the code is determined by the number of errors to be
corrected.
•Relationship between code parameters
–Minimum distance dmin≥ 2t+1
–Number of parity bits n-k ≤mt
–Message length k ≥ n-mt
–Block length n=2m-1

•
•
 BCH Encoding Examples

• …
BCH Encoding Examples
BCH codes
BCH Codes Example 1
BCH Codes Example 1
BCH Codes Example 1
BCH Codes Example 1
BCH Codes Example 2
BCH Codes Example 2
BCH Codes Example 2
BCH Codes Example 2
BCH Codes Example 2
BCH Codes Example 2
 Polynomials with coefficients in GF(pn)

• A finite field can also be generated by using an

irreducible polynomial M(x) selected from
GF(pn)[x].
Reed Solomons Codes
Reed Solomons Codes
Reed Solomons Codes
Reed Solomons Codes
Reed Solomons Codes