
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
Define a **valid sequence** as a sequence of letters that consists only of the letters $A$, $B$, $C$, and $D$ — some of these letters may not appear in the sequence — where $A$ is never immediately followed by $B$, $B$ is never immediately followed by $C$, $C$ is never immediately followed by $D$, and $D$ is never immediately followed by $A$. How many eight-letter valid sequences are there?

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