
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 four balls numbered $1$, $2$, $3$, $4$, and three different boxes. If each box must contain at least one ball, and exactly one box contains two consecutive numbered balls, determine the number of distinct ways to arrange the balls in the boxes._

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