
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
Two positive integers are written on the blackboard, one being 2002 and the other being a number less than 2002. If the arithmetic mean of the two numbers is an integer $m$, then the following operation can be performed: one of the numbers is erased and replaced by $m$. What is the maximum number of times this operation can be performed?

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