<|im_start|>system
You are a helpful assistant. You first think about the reasoning process in the mind and then provide the user with the answer. You should try to truely solve the question by yourself without cheating.  <|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
 A journalist wants to take a photo of 3 volunteers and the 2 elderly people they are helping, arranging them in a row. The requirement is that the 2 elderly people must stand next to each other but not at the ends of the row. Find the total number of different arrangements. Express your answer as a single numerical value. Show your work in <think> </think> tags. And return the final answer in <answer> </answer> tags.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
Let me solve this step by step.
<think>
user
24
A journalist wants to take a photo of 3 volunteers and the 2 elderly people they are helping, arranging them in a row. The requirement is that the 2 elderly people must stand next to each other but not at the ends of the row. Find the total number of different arrangements. Express your answer as a single numerical value.
test