
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
The shaded region consists of 20 congruent squares. If $RS = 8$ cm, what is the area of the entire shaded region?

[asy]
for(int i = 0; i < 5; ++i)
{
    for(int j = 0; j < 2; ++j)
    {
        filldraw((i,j)--(i+1,j)--(i+1,j+1)--(i,j+1)--cycle,gray,linewidth(2));
    }
}
for(int i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
{
    for(int j = 0; j < 5; ++j)
    {
        filldraw((i,j)--(i+1,j)--(i+1,j+1)--(i,j+1)--cycle,gray,linewidth(2));
    }
}
draw((1,1)--(6,1)--(1,6)--(1,1)--cycle,linewidth(2));
label("R",(1,6),N);
label("S",(6,1),E);
[/asy]

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