Xml detection, help needed

1

If i have an xml file set out as such:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inventors>
 <person>
  <name>Thomas Edison</name>
  <comment>Inventor of many things such as the incandescent lightbulb.</comment>
 </person>
 <person>
  <name>Doug Engelbart</name>
  <comment>Invented the mouse at the Stanford Research Institute</comment>
 </person>
</inventors>

Is there any way I could pass data to a flash variable on how many <person> I have in the xml file?

Thanks