
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
A granite pedestal. When constructing a square foundation and a cubic pedestal for a monument, granite cubic blocks of size \(1 \times 1\) meter were used. The pedestal used exactly as many blocks as the square foundation upon which it stood. All the blocks were used whole and uncut.

Look at the picture and try to determine the total number of blocks used. The foundation has a thickness of one block.

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