
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 16 congruent squares. If $PQ = 8$ 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)--(i,j)--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)--(i,j)--cycle,gray,linewidth(2));

}
}

draw((2,2)--(5,2)--(2,5)--(2,2)--cycle,linewidth(2));

label("P",(2,5),N);
label("Q",(5,2),E);
[/asy]

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