Advanced Prompting Techniques

User:
A store sells apples for $2 each. If you buy 5 or
more, you get a 20% discount. How much do 7 apples
cost?

Claude (might rush to answer):
$11.20

User:
A store sells apples for $2 each. If you buy 5 or
more, you get a 20% discount. How much do 7 apples
cost?

Think through this step by step.

Claude:
Let me work through this step by step:

1. Price per apple: $2.00
2. Number of apples: 7
3. Full price: 7 x $2.00 = $14.00
4. Discount applies? 7 >= 5, so yes, 20% off
5. Discount amount: $14.00 x 0.20 = $2.80
6. Final price: $14.00 - $2.80 = $11.20

The 7 apples cost $11.20.

System prompt:
You are a senior Python developer with 15 years of
experience. You write clean, well-documented code
following PEP 8 conventions. When reviewing code,
you focus on:
- Performance optimization
- Security best practices
- Readability and maintainability
- Type hints and documentation

Always explain your reasoning. If multiple approaches
exist, present the trade-offs.

User:
Review this function:

def get_users(db, active=True):
    q = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE active=" + str(active)
    return db.execute(q)

You are a technical writer creating documentation
for a developer audience. Your writing style:
- Clear and concise, no unnecessary jargon
- Use active voice
- Include code examples for every concept
- Structure content with headers and bullet points
- Assume the reader knows basic programming
  but not the specific technology being documented

You are a data analyst. When given data:
1. Start with a brief summary of what the data shows
2. Identify key patterns, trends, and outliers
3. Provide specific numbers and percentages
4. Suggest visualizations that would be helpful
5. End with actionable recommendations

Always caveat statistical claims appropriately and
note when sample sizes are too small for conclusions.

Turn 1 - Initial request:
Write a landing page headline for a project
management tool aimed at small teams.

Claude:
"Manage Projects, Not Chaos. Built for Small Teams."

Turn 2 - Refine:
Good start. Make it shorter and more punchy.
Emphasize simplicity over features.

Claude:
"Simple Projects. Happy Teams."

Turn 3 - Explore alternatives:
Give me 5 variations. Mix serious and playful tones.

Claude:
1. "Simple Projects. Happy Teams."
2. "Finally, project management that doesn't suck."
3. "Your team's work, organized."
4. "Less process. More progress."
5. "Ditch the spreadsheets. Ship the work."

Analyze the following document and provide a
summary, key takeaways, and action items.

<document>
Q3 2024 revenue increased 23% YoY to $4.2M.
Customer acquisition cost decreased from $150
to $120. Churn rate remains at 5.2%, above our
target of 4%. The engineering team shipped 3
major features: real-time collaboration, API
v2, and mobile app redesign. Customer NPS
improved from 42 to 58.
</document>

Format your response as:
<summary>2-3 sentence overview</summary>
<takeaways>bullet list</takeaways>
<actions>prioritized next steps</actions>

# Separating input data from instructions
<instructions>What to do</instructions>
<data>The data to process</data>

# Multiple documents
<doc1>First document</doc1>
<doc2>Second document</doc2>

# Examples section
<examples>
  <example>
    <input>example input</input>
    <output>expected output</output>
  </example>
</examples>

# Constraining output format
<answer>Claude puts answer here</answer>

I'm going to give you a long document. Please read
the entire document first, then answer my questions.

<document>
[paste your full document here - up to ~150K tokens]
</document>

Questions:
1. What are the main arguments presented?
2. What evidence supports each argument?
3. Are there any logical gaps or weaknesses?
4. Summarize the document in 200 words.

# Step 1: Research/Analysis
Prompt 1:
"Analyze this customer feedback data and identify
the top 5 pain points, ranked by frequency."

# Step 2: Strategy (uses Step 1 output)
Prompt 2:
"Based on these 5 pain points:
[paste Step 1 output]
Propose a solution for each one. Include effort
estimate (low/medium/high) and expected impact."

# Step 3: Action Plan (uses Step 2 output)
Prompt 3:
"Create a 90-day roadmap to implement these
solutions: [paste Step 2 output]
Prioritize by impact-to-effort ratio.
Format as a week-by-week timeline."

import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic()

# Low temperature for consistent code
response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
    max_tokens=1024,
    temperature=0.0,  # Deterministic
    messages=[{
        "role": "user",
        "content": "Write a SQL query to find duplicate emails"
    }]
)

# High temperature for creative writing
response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
    max_tokens=1024,
    temperature=1.0,  # Creative
    messages=[{
        "role": "user",
        "content": "Write a short poem about debugging code"
    }]
)