A straight line segment is 36 cm long. Points are to be marked on the line from both endpoints. From each end, the first point is at a distance of 1 cm from the end, the second point is at a distance of 2 cm from the first point and the third point is at a distance of 3 cm from the second point and so on. If the points on the ends are not counted and the common points are counted as one, what is the number of points?

• A. 10
• B. 12
• C. 14
• D. 16