
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
Given a badminton tournament with 120 participants in a single elimination format, in which the top-ranked 16 players automatically progress to the second round, while the other 104 players are paired to compete, determine the total number of matches played in the tournament.

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