2011 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 9

Problem

At a twins and triplets convention, there were $9$ sets of twins and $6$ sets of triplets, all from different families. Each twin shook hands with all the twins except his/her siblings and with half the triplets. Each triplet shook hands with all the triplets except his/her siblings and with half the twins. How many handshakes took place?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 324 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 441 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 630 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 648 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 882$

Solution

There are $18$ total twins and $18$ total triplets. Each of the twins shakes hands with the $16$ twins not in their family and $9$ of the triplets, a total of $25$ people. Each of the triplets shakes hands with the $15$ triplets not in their family and $9$ of the twins, for a total of $24$ people. Dividing by two to accommodate the fact that each handshake was counted twice, we get a total of $\frac{1}{2}\times 18 \times (25+24) = 9 \times 49 = 441 \rightarrow \boxed{\textbf{B}}$

2011 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 8	Followed by Problem 10
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2011 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 9

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