
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
There were plates on a shelf. First, $1 / 3$ of all the plates minus two were taken, then $1 / 2$ of the remaining plates were taken. After this, 9 plates remained on the shelf. How many plates were on the shelf initially?

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