Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, Seventh Edition

Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 0073383090
ISBN 13: 978-0-07338-309-5

Chapter 6 - Section 6.2 - The Pigeonhole Principle - Exercises - Page 405: 10

Answer

At least one pair of mid point of line joining 5 different pairs of integers have integer values.

Work Step by Step

Let us take 2 pair of integers ($x_{1}$,$y_{1}$) and ($x_{2}$,$y_{2}$). Their midpoint is given by ($\frac{x_{1}+x_{2}}{2}$ , $\frac{y_{1}+y_{2}}{2}$) The mid point will be an integer if both line joining integer pair has same parity i.e. (odd,odd), (odd,even), (even,odd), (even,even). As we have 5 different pair of integers and 4 possible parity , by pigeonhole principle we can say that at least one pair of mid point has integer coordinates .
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