Chain of Thought
1 min read · Reviewed 17 Oct 2026
In short
Asking a model to work through its reasoning before answering.
In plain English
Rather than jumping to an answer, the model is asked to lay out the steps. Adding "think it through step by step" measurably improves results on anything with several stages.
A real example
Ask for a straight answer on a multi-step pricing calculation and models often slip. Ask for the working first and the arithmetic holds up far more often — and you can see where it went wrong.
Why it matters
It gives you something to check. An answer with visible reasoning can be audited; a bare answer can only be trusted or not.
