⚡ Advanced Techniques·Works on: claude, chatgpt, gemini

Step-Back Abstract-First Prompt

Technique: Step-Back Prompting

Derive the general principle first. Then apply it. Fewer hallucinations, better generalization.

Advanced#step-back#reasoning#math

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Use Step-Back reasoning.

Specific question:


**Step 1 — Abstract.**
What is the GENERAL principle, formula, or rule that this specific question is an instance of? State it in plain English. Don't apply it yet.

**Step 2 — Verify the abstraction.**
Is the principle from Step 1 actually correct? Where would it fail? What's the closest mis-stated version of it that I might confuse it with?

**Step 3 — Apply.**
Now apply the verified principle to the specific case. Show the work — every substitution, every unit conversion, every assumption.

**Step 4 — Sanity-check.**
Is the answer in the right order of magnitude? What's a rough back-of-envelope estimate? Do they agree within 2×?

Final answer + confidence.

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1Specific question

›See the lazy version this template replaces

Before — the lazy prompt

Answer: <question>

Why it works

Most arithmetic / unit / scaling errors come from skipping the abstraction step.
Verifying the principle as a separate step catches "close-but-wrong" formula recall.
Order-of-magnitude check catches the embarrassing 1000× errors that the model would otherwise confidently produce.

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