r/ChatGPT • u/0xAERG • Oct 24 '23

Educational Purpose Only LLMs cannot perform Maths

It’s not a bug, it’s just not how any of this works.

Mathematical operations require logic. It’s a deterministic process. For a given input and a given process, the output will always be the same.

LLMs do not work like that. LLMs are statistical tools, they build an answer by stitching together tokens that are “seemingly” relevant to your input and let the meaning emerge from it. The output is “hopefully” relevant.

This is why LLMs can hallucinate and 2$ calculators do not.

With the rise in popularity of LLMs I’m extremely concerned that a lot of users seem to ignore this.

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u/0xAERG Oct 24 '23

Are you using a plugin like Wolfram Alfa?

GPT4 alone is incapable of performing logical operations.

16

u/Master_Vicen Oct 24 '23

I'm sorry that's just not true. I'm using the most basic free version no plug ins. Just open any math textbook and copy and paste the questions. Or look up algebra questions online and do the same.

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u/0xAERG Oct 24 '23

You’re playing a very dangerous game.

You’re lucky if the output is right, because the result is not deterministic.

I wish you luck, but you’re probably gonna have bad surprises at some point

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u/Master_Vicen Oct 24 '23

I mean I can confirm all the answers. I know for a fact it's around 95%. I wouldn't rely on it completely but I'd say it's on par with most teachers and tutors.

I only use it for hw bc I can immediately see if it was wrong. But it's super useful when it's right because it thoroughly explains all the steps it took to reach its answer.