What is the least number of positive two-digit integers that I need to write down to guarantee that I could find a pair of coprime numbers ?
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The prime numbers are 2 , 3 , 5 , . . .
The positive two-digit integers which are divisible by 2 are 1 0 , 1 2 , 1 4 , . . . , 9 6 , 9 8
The positive two-digit integers which are divisible by 3 are 1 2 , 1 5 , 1 8 , . . . , 9 6 , 9 9
The positive two-digit integers which are divisible by 5 are 1 0 , 1 5 , 2 0 , . . . , 9 0 , 9 5
............
Notice that the numbers in each list of multiples are in the form of arithmetic progression(A.M.)
The number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 = 2 9 8 − 1 0 + 1 = 4 5
The number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 3 = 3 9 9 − 1 2 + 1 = 3 0
The number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 5 = 5 9 5 − 1 0 + 1 = 1 8
..................
Since the number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 is the most among all the primes, by Pigeonhole's Principle , the least number of positive two-digit integers that I need to write down to guarantee that I could find a pair of co-prime numbers = 4 5 + 1 = 4 6
Note:
You may be asking why isn't the answer 2 . The answer is not 2 because in order to guarantee that I could find a pair of co-prime numbers, I ought to consider the worst-case scenario ! Here, the worst-case scenario is I first choose all 4 5 positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 and go on to pick the next number which is not a multiple of 2 , which guarantees me a pair of co-prime numbers(the number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 is the most excluding 1 which is not a prime).
And take note that 1 cannot be chosen before the 4 5 positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 are chosen as this would make the task of finding co-prime pair easier and this will not be the worst-case scenario we are looking for.