Word Problem

Can't figure out how to do this, here it is
If there are 20 people sitting around a table, how many different pairs of people can have conversations during dinner? If some one could just go through and expalin how you would do a problem like this. Thanks!

If it's 20 women after a bingo game, each talks to the other 19 simultaneously :lol:

*slaps Denis upside the head*

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troublemaker676: Consider the first person. How many conversations can he have?

Now consider the second person. You've already covered him talking to the first guy, because the first guy has already talked to him. So how many conversations are left for him to have?

Continue until you note a pattern, or until you've worked through all twenty people.

Eliz.

Denis said:

If it's 20 women after a bingo game, each talks to the other 19 simultaneously :lol:

Click to expand...

And each of the 380 remarks are understood . . .

(We can't help it, Eliz. .It's one of the side effects of testosterone ... brutal honesty.)