Self-Consistency

Sections: Concept • Implementation • Trade-Offs • When to Use • Effectiveness • Example Snippet • Simple Explanation

Concept Sample multiple reasoning paths and pick the most consistent answer.

Implementation

1. Generate N answers with “temperature” randomness
2. Tally the most common
3. Return consensus

Trade-Offs

• Increased API cost
• Higher latency

When to Use

• Tasks with uncertain outputs (e.g., open-ended questions)
• Critical applications where consistency is key (e.g., planning)

Effectiveness

• Increases answer reliability
• Mitigates random model variance

Example Snippet

"Question: Name the largest planet. Generate 5 answers then choose the most frequent."

Simple Explanation

Self-consistency means running the prompt multiple times and picking the answer that appears most often.