If $k$ is a positive natural number then $\phi(k)$ denotes the number of natural numbers less than $k$ which are prime to $k$. I have seen proofs that $n = \sum_{k|n} \phi(k)$ which basically partitions $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ into subsets of elements of order $k$ (of which there are $\phi(k)$-many) as $k$ ranges over divisors of $n$.
But everything we know about $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ comes from elementary number theory (division with remainder, bezout relations, divisibility), so the above relation should be provable without invoking the structure of the group $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$. Does anyone have a nice, clear, proof which avoids $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$?