
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
There are 8 married couples at a large gathering. At this event, every person shakes hands once with every other person except his or her spouse and except themselves. How many handshakes occur?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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