
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
An isosceles right triangle has legs of length 12, and it is partitioned into 18 congruent triangles. The shaded area consists of 12 of these smaller triangles.
A) 36
B) 40
C) 48
D) 54
E) 72

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