
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
The bacteria in a container double every 30 seconds. After four minutes, there are 262,144 bacteria in the container. How many were in the container at the beginning of the experiment?

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