# Number of messages that can be encrypted with RSA System?

I was working on some problem set here and am given the usual prime numbers p, q of the RSA algorithm und am asked for the number of messages that can be encrypted with this particular RSA system that has been given.

My intuitive understanding is to find the number of unique pairs of public key and private key with a given p, q, and then in that sense consequently be able to determine the number of messages that can be encrypted. Would this be a correct interpretation?

Or is there possibly another way of reading off this question? (Apologies for the apparent simplicity of this question but I thought maybe those who are more well versed in this area might have a clearer idea of the question itself.) Thanks.

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The number of messages that can be encrypted does not depend on the particular public-private key pair. It only depends on $p$ and $q$.
Check in your material for the condition that a message (a number between 1 and $pq$) must satisfy for RSA encryption-decryption to work. Then determine the number of such numbers.