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jmc

prealgebra senior

Problem

There are 6 married couples at a party. At the start of the party, every person shakes hands once with every other person except his or her spouse. How many handshakes are there?
Solution
All 12 people shake hands with 10 other people (everyone except themselves and their spouse). In multiplying , each handshake is counted twice, so we divide by two to get the answer of handshakes.
Final answer
60