
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
On an east-west shipping lane are ten ships sailing individually.  The first five from the west are sailing eastwards while the other five ships are sailing westwards.  They sail at the same constant speed at all times.  Whenever two ships meet, each turns around and sails in the opposite direction.  When all ships have returned to port, how many meetings of two ships have taken place?

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