answer-backtracked

Definition

Built by working backwards from a known answer to a plausible path that reaches it. Where the final answer is available, this reliably synthesises reasoning traces for training, since forward search would often fail and produce nothing usable. The catch is that such traces are too clean: they contain no dead ends and no recovery, so a model trained only on them never learns what to do when its first attempt goes wrong.

Explainers using this term

• Paper Deep-Dive: ABSeeker — Training Long-Horizon Search Agents by Grading Each Step Backward from the AnswerABSeeker: Training Long-Horizon Search Agents via Answer-Backtracked Credit Assignment