taylor was having a party.she invited 20 friends to her party, if each person shook hands with every other person .how many handshakes would there be? please explain,thanks

Answer 1

21 * 20 = ?

Answer 2

Each of the 20 people will shake hands with 19 other people
20(19)= 380
but that would include duplicates such as A shaking hands with P, and P shaking hands with A, which is the same handshake
so number of handshakes = 20(19)/2 = 380/2 = 190

or

we are choosing pairs from 20
= C(20,2) = 190

Answer 3

Thanks, Reiny -- I goofed and didn't consider that we can't count A and P and P and A.

I included the hostess -- so we have 21 people.

Answer 4

Thanks Ms Sue, and I didn't catch the hostess part, only saw the 20.
So let's go with your answer ÷ 2 = 21(20)/2 = 210