atom-of-thought

When facing a complex problem, use this approach:

Step 1: Direct Assessment

Attempt to solve the original problem directly to establish a baseline understanding.

Step 2: Atomic Decomposition

Discover sub-questions in four passes — don't target a count:

Pass 1 — Generate freely: List every conceptually separable question embedded in the problem. Don't filter yet.

Pass 2 — Atomize: For each question, ask "does this embed multiple independent questions?" If yes, split it. Keep splitting until each one is indivisible.

Pass 3 — Mark dependencies: A dependency is only information that must come from a previous sub-question's answer — not from the problem statement itself. Don't mark known things as dependencies.

Pass 4 — Completeness & prune:

• Completeness: "If I resolved every question on this list, would the original problem be fully solved?" If not, add what's missing.
• Prune: Remove any sub-question whose answer is already explicit in the problem statement.