
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
In a store, there are 21 white shirts and 21 purple shirts hanging in a row. Find the minimum value of $k$ such that regardless of the initial order of the shirts, it is possible to remove $k$ white shirts and $k$ purple shirts so that the remaining white shirts hang consecutively and the remaining purple shirts also hang consecutively.

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