Chain-of-Thought Prompting

What is Chain-of-Thought Prompting?

Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting is a technique that improves the reasoning capabilities of large language models by encouraging them to generate intermediate reasoning steps before arriving at a final answer. This approach significantly improves performance on complex reasoning tasks.

How It Works

Standard Prompt

Q: What is 23 × 17?
A: 391

Chain-of-Thought Prompt

Q: What is 23 × 17?
A: Let me solve this step by step:
   23 × 17 = 23 × (10 + 7)
   = 230 + 161
   = 391

Types of CoT Prompting

Few-Shot CoT Provide examples with reasoning.

Zero-Shot CoT Add "Let's think step by step" to prompt.

Self-Consistency Generate multiple reasoning paths, select most common answer.

Tree of Thoughts Explore multiple reasoning branches.

Benefits

• Improved accuracy on math problems
• Better logical reasoning
• Enhanced problem decomposition
• More interpretable outputs
• Reduced hallucinations

Use Cases

• Mathematical reasoning
• Multi-step problem solving
• Logical deduction
• Code generation
• Complex analysis

Limitations

• Increased token usage
• Slower response times
• May not help simple tasks
• Can generate plausible but wrong reasoning