
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 and B start from points A and B simultaneously, moving towards each other and meet at point C. If A starts 2 minutes earlier, then their meeting point is 42 meters away from point C. Given that A's speed is \( a \) meters per minute, B's speed is \( b \) meters per minute, where \( a \) and \( b \) are integers, \( a > b \), and \( b \) is not a factor of \( a \). What is the value of \( a \)?

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