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Each person will shake hands with every other person, except himself. If there are 25 people, each person will shake hands with 25-1 people, or 24. The number of times each person will shake hands with another, will be 25x24. The number of handshakes will be half of that, as each handshake is between two persons. The formula, in other words, is x(x-1)/2, where x is the number of people. With 25 people, it will be 25x24/2 = 300 handshakes.
The first person must shake hands with 5 other people. The next must shake hands with 4 other people, since you exclude the first person. Keep going and you'll find that there will be 5+4+3+2+1=15 handshakes. Numbers like this are called triangular numbers.
14 is incorrect Correct answer is 21* 7 persons in total, which means the first one will shake hands with 6 persons, the next in line will shake hands with 5 (given that he already shook hands with the first person). Calculation is: 6+5+4+3+2+1=21 *Applies to question if handshakes take place between new partners only, however in either case 14 can never be the answer.
15
Sixty-six unique, distinct handshakes.