Examples

$$ \begin{align*} \phi(1) &= 1 \quad (1) \\ \phi(2) &= 1 \quad (1) \\ \phi(3) &= 2 \quad (1, 2) \\ \phi(4) &= 2 \quad (1, 3) \\ \phi(5) &= 4 \quad (1, 2, 3, 4) \\ \phi(6) &= 2 \quad (1, 5) \end{align*} $$

Properties

The following three properties will allow us to calculate it for any number:

  • if $p$ is a prime, then $\phi(p) = p - 1$

Proof: Obviously, since $p$ is a prime, the only divisors that it has are $1$ and $p$, but $gcd(1, p) = 1$ so $1$ falls under the definition of the Euler function; therefore, the only divisor valid for the Euler function for the case above is $p$.

  • if $p$ is a prime and $k \geq 1$ a positive integer, then $\phi(p^k) = p^k - p^{k-1}$.

Proof: Since the multiples of $p$ that are less than or equal to $p^k$ are $p, 2p, 3p, …, p^{k-1}p \leq p^k$, we can see that in total there are $p^{k-1}$ numbers; therefore, the other $p^k - p^{k-1}$ are relatively coprime to $p^k$.

Example:

$\phi(2^4)$

Multiples of $2$ less than $2^4$ are $1 \cdot 2, 2 \cdot 2, 3 \cdot 2, 4 \cdot 2, 5 \cdot 2, 6 \cdot 2, 7 \cdot 2, 8 \cdot 2$, which are in total $2^3$ elements. Therefore, the other $2^4 - 2^3$ are relatively prime to $2^4$.

  • if $a$ and $b$ are relatively prime, then $\phi(ab) = \phi(a)\phi(b)$

Computation

Given a number $n$, let’s decompose it into prime factors (factorization):

$$ n = p_1^{a_1} \cdot p_2^{a_2} \cdot ... \cdot p_k^{a_k} $$

Applying the Euler function we get:

$$ \begin{align*} \phi(n) &= \phi(p_1^{a_1}) \cdot \phi(p_2^{a_2}) \cdot ... \cdot \phi(p_k^{a_k}) \\ &= (p_1^{a_1} - p_1^{a_1 - 1}) \cdot (p_2^{a_2} - p_2^{a_2 - 1}) \cdot ... \cdot (p_k^{a_k} - p_k^{a_k - 1}) \\ &= (p_1^{a_1} - \frac{p_1^{a_1}}{p_1}) \cdot (p_2^{a_2} - \frac{p_2^{a_2}}{p_2}) \cdot ... \cdot (p_k^{a_k} - \frac{p_k^{a_k}}{p_k}) \\ &= p_1^{a_1} (1 - \frac{1}{p_1}) \cdot p_2^{a_2} (1 - \frac{1}{p_2}) \cdot ... \cdot p_k^{a_k} (1 - \frac{1}{p_k}) \\ &= p_1^{a_1} \cdot p_2^{a_2} \cdot ... \cdot p_k^{a_k} \cdot (1 - \frac{1}{p_1}) \cdot (1 - \frac{1}{p_2}) \cdot ... \cdot (1 - \frac{1}{p_k}) \\ &= n \cdot (1 - \frac{1}{p_1}) \cdot (1 - \frac{1}{p_2}) \cdot ... \cdot (1 - \frac{1}{p_k}) \\ &= n \prod_{p|n}(1 - \frac{1}{p}) \end{align*} $$

Implementation

Time complexity: $O(\sqrt{n})$ Space: $O(1)$

int phi(int n) {
  int result = n;
  for (int i = 2; i * i <= n; i += 1) {
    // if `i` is a divisor of `n`
    if (n % i == 0) {
      // divide it by `i^k` so that it's no longer divisible by `i`
      while (n % i == 0) {
        n /= i;
      }
      // all the multiples of `i` are coprime to n, the number of
      // multiples is equal to `i * k` <= n, therefore `k <= n / i`
      result -= result / i;
    }
  }
  if (n > 1) {
    result -= result / n;
  }
  return result;
}

Problems

10179 - Irreducable Basic Fractions 10299 - Relatives 11327 - Enumerating Rational Numbers