
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
Calvin was asked to evaluate  $37 + 31 \times a$  for some number  $a$ . Unfortunately, his paper was tilted 45 degrees, so he mistook multiplication for addition (and vice versa) and evaluated  $37 \times 31 + a$  instead. Fortunately, Calvin still arrived at the correct answer while still following the order of operations. For what value of  $a$  could this have happened? 

*Ray Li.*

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