Give stream of consciousness and then the final answer. 10 people meet and shake hands. The maximum number of handshakes possible if there is to be no “cycle” of handshakes is (A cycle of handshakes is a sequence of k people a1, a2, ……, ak (k > 2) such that the pairs {a1, a2}, {a2, a3}, ……, {ak-1, ak}, {ak, a1} shake hands).
Options:
(A) 7
(B) 6
(C) 9
(D) 8
(E) 10
The question is not written in proper manner but we can work in 3 methods
1) If these are random handshakes, then total methods = 10*9/2*1 = 45
2) If these are cyclic handshakes, then total methods = 10
3) If these persons are not cyclic but they are arranged in a straight bench, then number of methods = 9
The final answer: (C).