
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
Each of  $1000$  elves has a hat, red on the inside and blue on the outside or vise versa. An elf with a hat that is red outside can only lie, and an elf with a hat that is blue outside can only tell the truth. One day every elf tells every other elf, “Your hat is red on the outside.” During that day, some of the elves turn their hats inside out at any time during the day. (An elf can do that more than once per day.) Find the smallest possible number of times any hat is turned inside out.

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