when are relatively prime
We show that , gcd, is isomorphic to , where denotes the cyclic group
of order for any positive integer .
Let and . Then the external direct product consists of elements , where and .
Next, we show that the group is cyclic. We do so by showing that it is generated by an element, namely :if generates , then for each , we must have for some . Such , if exists, would satisfy
Indeed, by the Chinese Remainder Theorem, such exists and is unique modulo . (Here is where the relative primality of comes into play.) Thus, is generated by , so it is cyclic.
The order of is , so is the order of . Since cyclic groups of the same order are isomorphic, we finally have .