
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
Calculate the second-order determinants:
a) $\left|\begin{array}{rr}2 & 5 \\ -3 & -4\end{array}\right|$;
b) $\left|\begin{array}{ll}a^{2} & a b \\ a b & b^{2}\end{array}\right|$.

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