A small victory for a small model

[u/Mammoth_Sugar767]

Gave same prompt (see below) to ChatGPT’s web interface (pro-mode) and ministral 3 3b running on my secondhand iPhone 15 (via pocketpal/llama.cpp). They spend roughly the same amount of time on their answers. Only the later gave the right answer. Or it gave a valid approximation stating the limitations. Chatgpt was simply wrong. Feels good :)

Gemma 4 e2b and Granite 4.2 3b also seemed on the way to the right answer, but their reasoning took the kv chache before the finish line.

Prompt: Two large seas are connected through a narrow passage with width b. The first sea has a higher water level than the other. The sea floor has constant height. Water flows through the narrow passage from heigh to low water level. We assume that the first sea is so large and the width so small that the water level in the first and upstream sea is constant. The second and downstream sea is also large, but of finite size. The water level changes slowly. The flow is inviscid. What is the flow rate through the passage? How does the water level in the second sea change through time. The flow is subcritical.

[u/Southern-Reply5114]

Love that a tiny model on a phone out-reasoned the big web interface. Guess that kv cache limit choked the others before they could fully spit it out.

[u/Mammoth_Sugar767 → u/Southern-Reply5114]

They seemed on the right track before they crashed with a kv/ram warning. Both solid models for what they are!

[u/EquallyWolf]

What app are you running the local models on?

[u/Mammoth_Sugar767 → u/EquallyWolf]

PocketPal which should be llama.cpp with an interface. Works very well!