Chain-of-Factors: A Zero-Shot Prompting Methodology Enabling Factor-Centric Reasoning in Large Language Models

Large language models (LLMs) have significantly improved numerous natural language processing tasks. However, their performance relies heavily on the provided instructions or prompts. Recently, several prompting methodologies have been developed to enhance the reasoning abilities of LLMs. Notably, the Chain-of-Thought (CoT) approach provides examples that help break down tasks into sub-steps, resulting in more accurate solutions. However, the process of generating detailed examples may not be user-friendly, as end users prefer providing task descriptions rather than a set of examples. In this study, we introduce Chain-of-Factors (CoF), an innovative zero-shot prompting methodology that incorporates task-specific instructions as a chain of factors into the prompt, aimed at enhancing the factor-centric reasoning abilities of LLMs. Experiments on three LLMs, including ChatGPT-3.5, Gemini, and GPT-4, show performance improvements ranging from 0.01% to 40.2% in accuracy on various symbolic reasoning and logical reasoning tasks compared with zero-shot and few-shot CoT. In summary, CoF enhances LLMs' reasoning abilities by including task-specific steps and instructions, while also decreasing the necessity for fine-tuning specific to each task.