Arithmetic Without Numbers – How LLMs Do Math

(alvaro-videla.com)

22 points | by old_sound 2 days ago ago

7 comments

  • iammjm 2 hours ago

    Why doesn’t it just call tools such as Mathematica for such operations?

    • jampekka 17 minutes ago

      They do. I asked CharGPT for 327 x 48 and it used the "ChatGPT Instruments" calculator.

      Previously it used to run Python scripts, and may still do for more complex calculations.

    • defrost 2 hours ago

      This is more how an LLM thinks about math internally - an LLM version of drilled tables being used for mental arithmetic "as humans do".

      When humans stall on these tasks, they reach for pen and paper, a slide rule, a calculator, etc.

      Mathematica is overkill for arithmetic, in addition it's licenced and can cost a bit extra.

      If an LLM were to reach for a light cheap arithmetic tool something like bc would be a good first stop - a CLI tool with a language that supports arbitrary precision numbers with interactive execution of statements.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bc_(programming_language)

  • euroderf 3 hours ago

    The spirit of Rube Goldberg is alive and well.

  • old_sound 2 days ago

    What happens inside an LLM when it tries to calculate with nothing but matrices.

  • andrewstuart 38 minutes ago

    I assumed it wrote Python or some sort of other code.

  • silvestrov 3 hours ago

    This is a very nice and fresh page layout.