Chain-of-Thought Prompting

Chain-of-thought (CoT) prompting guides AI models to show their reasoning process step-by-step. This technique significantly improves accuracy on math, logic, and complex reasoning tasks by making the model work through problems systematically.

Basic CoT

Simply add "Let's think step by step" to your prompt:

Q: A store has 45 apples. They sell 12 in the morning and 8 in the afternoon.
They receive a shipment of 30 apples. How many apples do they have now?

Let's think step by step.

Zero-Shot CoT

No examples needed - just instruct the model to reason:

Explain your reasoning step by step before giving your final answer.

Few-Shot CoT

Provide examples showing the reasoning pattern:

Q: Roger has 5 tennis balls. He buys 2 more cans of 3 balls each.
How many tennis balls does he have now?

A: Roger started with 5 balls.
2 cans of 3 balls each = 2 × 3 = 6 balls
5 + 6 = 11 tennis balls
The answer is 11.

Q: {your question}
A:

Advanced Techniques

Self-Consistency Generate multiple reasoning paths and take the majority answer:

Solve this problem 3 different ways. Compare your answers and explain which reasoning is most reliable.

Tree of Thoughts Explore multiple reasoning branches:

Consider 3 different approaches to solve this problem.
For each approach:
1. Outline the steps
2. Identify potential issues
3. Work through the solution

Then compare approaches and select the best one.

Verification Step Add a self-check:

After solving, verify your answer by:
1. Checking if it makes logical sense
2. Working backwards from the answer
3. Estimating to see if it's in the right ballpark

When CoT Helps Most

Task Type	CoT Benefit
Math problems	High - explicit calculation steps
Logic puzzles	High - reveals reasoning errors
Multi-step analysis	High - maintains context
Simple facts	Low - adds unnecessary tokens
Creative writing	Medium - helps with plot consistency

Prompt Templates

Basic CoT:

{question}

Think through this step by step before answering.

Verified CoT:

{question}

Step 1: Identify what's being asked
Step 2: Break down the problem
Step 3: Solve each part
Step 4: Verify your answer

Show your work for each step.

Comparative CoT:

{question}

Approach 1: [reasoning]
Approach 2: [reasoning]
Approach 3: [reasoning]

Which approach gives the most reliable answer and why?

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Chain-of-Thought Prompting