Let A = {1, 2, 3,...., 10} and R be a relation on A such that R = {(a, b) : a = 2b + 1}. Let (a1, a2), (a2, a3), (a3, a4), ...., (ak, ak+1) be a sequence of k elements of R such that the second entry of an ordered pair is equal to the first entry of the next ordered pair. Then the largest integer k, for which such a sequence exists, is equal to :