<|im_start|>system
You are a helpful assistant. You first think about the reasoning process in the mind and then provide the user with the answer. You should try to truely solve the question by yourself without cheating.  <|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
 The sum of the digits of [(10 ^ x) ^ a] - 64 = 279, where a is a positive integer. The value of xy is 32. What is the value of a? Show your work in <think> </think> tags. And return the final answer in <answer> </answer> tags.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
Let me solve this step by step.
<think>
user
1
The sum of the digits of [(10 ^ x) ^ a] - 64 = 279, where a is a positive integer. The value of xy is 32. What is the value of a?
test