
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
In a group of 2017 persons, any pair of persons has exactly one common friend (other than the pair of persons). Determine the smallest possible value of the difference between the numbers of friends of the person with the most friends and the person with the least friends in such a group.

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