Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I am completely new to Cryptography. I was presented with the following problem and I am trying to find something that will explain to me how to proceed.
Demonstrate the Diffie-Hellman key exchange using an elliptic curve y^2 = x^3 + ax + 9 mod p, where p = 223. Use XA = 8, XB = 15. Find a perfect generator point or a generator point with the highest order if a perfect generator cannot be found for the first 30 points. List the values of the order of both the elliptic curve and generator point.
This homework is about constructing a tiny finite Elliptic Curve group over a prime finite field, then showing Diffie-Hellman key exchange on that.
It's needed to understand

Modular arithmetic$\pmod p$, that is computation (including division) in the finite field of integers modulo $p$ (here $p=223$ but the same techniques apply for any prime $p$).
The notion of set of pairs $(x,y)$ matching an equation $y^2 = x^3 + a\,x + b $ in that finite field.
Under some conditions on constants $a$ and $b$, construction of a finite Elliptic Curve group on that set (with one extra identity element added). With the problem as we get it, it must be used $b=9$, and $a$ is left at the discretion of the reader.
The notion of order of a group/curve, and of order of an element in the group (a perfect generator is to be understood as an element of order the order of the group; equivalently, adding the element to itself repeatedly reaches every element of the group).
Diffie-Hellman key exchange on an arbitrary finite group with a states generator. That's the easy part. &quot;Use $X_A = 8, X_B = 15$&quot; is to be used in that part only; that would be the values chosen by parties.

Because $p$ is so small, it's possible to get away with explicitly finding the points $(x,y)$ forming the (non-neutral) elements of the group. In actual cryptography, we'd get say $p\approx2^{256}$ and about as many points, thus point counting would probably use the Schoof–Elkies–Atkin algorithm, that many users of crypto, including me, have never actually studied.