Discrete Mathematics with Applications 4th Edition

Published by Cengage Learning
ISBN 10: 0-49539-132-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-49539-132-6

Chapter 4 - Elementary Number Theory and Methods of Proof - Exercise Set 4.6 - Page 206: 17

Answer

See below.

Work Step by Step

1. Use the method of contradiction, suppose the opposite is true: $a$ mod $3$=2, we can write $a=3k+2$ 2. case1: $k$ is even, $k=2n$ and $a=6n+2$, we have $a$ mod 6=2 which contradicts the condition $a$ mod 6=3; 3. case2: $k$ is odd, $k=2m+1$ and $a=6m+5$, we have $a$ mod 6=5 which again contradicts the condition $a$ mod 6=3; 4. Thus we can conclude that $a$ mod $3\ne2$ under the given conditions.
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