2011 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 11

Problem

There are $52$ people in a room. what is the largest value of $n$ such that the statement "At least $n$ people in this room have birthdays falling in the same month" is always true?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 4 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 5 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 12$

Solution

Pretend you have $52$ people you want to place in $12$ boxes, because there are $12$ months in a year. By the Pigeonhole Principle, one box must have at least $\left\lceil \frac{52}{12} \right\rceil$ people $\longrightarrow \boxed{\textbf{(D)} 5}$

See Also

2011 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 10
Followed by
Problem 12
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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