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An example of zero-shot Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting involves appending the instructional trigger "Let's think step by step." to the end of a prompt, such as the 'Jack's apples' word problem. This prompts the language model to independently generate intermediate reasoning steps to reach the final answer. For instance, the model might output: "1. Initial Quantity: Jack starts with $${}7$$ apples. 2. After Dinner: He eats $${}2$$ apples, so $${}7-2=5$$ apples remain. 3. His Mom Gives More: His mom gives him $${}5$$ more apples, so $${}5+5=10$$ apples are now with him. 4. Giving to John: The next day, Jack gives $${}3$$ apples to his friend John, so $${}10-3=7$$ apples are left. In the end, Jack has $${}7$$ apples left."

Zero-Shot CoT Example with Jack's Apples

A user receives an incorrect and unhelpful response from a language model for a multi-step arithmetic problem. Based on the case study below, identify the specific introductory phrase the model should have used to initiate a transparent, step-by-step reasoning process, and explain why this approach is more effective.

Improving Model Response Transparency

A language model is presented with the following multi-step arithmetic problem: 'Jack has 7 apples. He ate 2 of them for dinner, but then his mom gave him 5 more apples. The next day, Jack gave 3 apples to his friend John. How many apples does Jack have left in the end?' The model's response begins with the sentence, 'Let’s think step by step.' Analyze the primary purpose of this opening sentence and the intended effect it has on the structure of the model's complete answer.

Analyzing a Model's Reasoning Trigger

A large language model is given the following word problem: 'Jack has 7 apples. He ate 2 of them for dinner, but then his mom gave him 5 more apples. The next day, Jack gave 3 apples to his friend John. How many apples does Jack have left in the end?' Which of the following initial sentences for the model's response is most effective at signaling that it will provide a detailed, step-by-step breakdown of its reasoning process?

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