TITLE: Find the inverse modulo of a number - got a negative result
QUESTION [7 upvotes]: I'm trying to find the inverse modulo of $17\pmod{3120}$
I've tried:
$$
\begin{eqnarray}
    3120 =& 17\cdot 183 &+ 9\\
     17  =&  9\cdot 1   &+ 8\\
     9   =&  8\cdot 1   &+ 1\\
     8   =&  8\cdot1
\end{eqnarray}
$$
and then do it from the the bottom:
$$
\begin{align}
    1 = & 9 - 8\cdot1 \\
      = & 9 - (17 - 9\cdot1)\\
      = & 9\cdot2 - 17\cdot1\\
      = & 2 (3120 - 17\cdot183) -17\cdot1\\
      = & 3120\cdot2 -17\cdot367
\end{align}
$$
This means that $-367$ is the inverse modulo. Is it the correct result? Can a reverse modulo be negative? Using this website it gives the inverse modulo to be $2753$ instead, how can I get that?

REPLY [10 votes]: You have obtained the correct answer. Note that
$$-367 \equiv (3120-367) \pmod{3120} \equiv 2753 \pmod{3120}$$
In general, if you do not like negative modulo, you can always make it into a positive one. If you have $-a \pmod{n}$, where $a \in \{1,2,\ldots,n\}$, then you can make it into a positive one as follows.
$$-a \pmod{n} \equiv (n-a) \pmod{n}$$