4 ms·

These days chatgpt can fill the gap surprisingly well for many questions.

by j7ake 2y ago

yshklarov 2y ago
I wouldn't count on it -- LLMs make lots of errors in reasoning, and errors in solutions are very frustrating to most math students.
BossingAround 2y ago
ChatGPT can help with very simple problems that people have already solved online. That said, typically, you can search for the actual solution online without the ChatGPT's possible hallucinations. A better use of LLM is to input your reasoning and ask if it is correct, but even then, you can't rely on the output. Probably the best is to ask on the math side of stack overflow and rely on the kindness of a stranger.
phforms 2y ago
Without any solutions or even problems to begin with and without having a teacher by your side, I found that LLMs can be a good-enough learning assistant. Of course, you cannot rely on their answers and they sometimes lead you astray, but what works for me is to: - throughout the text, use the LLM to ask questions, generate problems (I haven’t tried this yet, so it might not work very well) and give you hints on how to close the gaps in your understanding - reduce a given problem to the simplest possible case and ask how to solve that (if you want to check if your solution seems plausible) or if it can give you hints on how to approach the problem (when you are stuck) - vary the problem description to see if different approaches are suggested - critically ask questions about the (steps to the) solution or any provided hints (does something seem odd or logically inconsistent?) - other LLMs sometimes give you better answers (or contradict each other), so, if possible, try asking different LLMs the same questions Having this “conversation” with the LLM where you need to critically check everything it says has the added benefit of being more actively engaged with the material as opposed to simply looking up the solution. It may be a huge waste of time if you’re not careful, but I think if you use it intelligently to guide your own thinking, it can be very helpful.

These days chatgpt can fill the gap surprisingly well for many questions.

by j7ake 2y ago

These days chatgpt can fill the gap surprisingly well for many questions.

I wouldn't count on it -- LLMs make lots of errors in reasoning, and errors in solutions are very frustrating to most math students.

BossingAround 2y ago

ChatGPT can help with very simple problems that people have already solved online. That said, typically, you can search for the actual solution online without the ChatGPT's possible hallucinations. A better use of LLM is to input your reasoning and ask if it is correct, but even then, you can't rely on the output. Probably the best is to ask on the math side of stack overflow and rely on the kindness of a stranger.

phforms 2y ago

Without any solutions or even problems to begin with and without having a teacher by your side, I found that LLMs can be a good-enough learning assistant. Of course, you cannot rely on their answers and they sometimes lead you astray, but what works for me is to: - throughout the text, use the LLM to ask questions, generate problems (I haven’t tried this yet, so it might not work very well) and give you hints on how to close the gaps in your understanding - reduce a given problem to the simplest possible case and ask how to solve that (if you want to check if your solution seems plausible) or if it can give you hints on how to approach the problem (when you are stuck) - vary the problem description to see if different approaches are suggested - critically ask questions about the (steps to the) solution or any provided hints (does something seem odd or logically inconsistent?) - other LLMs sometimes give you better answers (or contradict each other), so, if possible, try asking different LLMs the same questions Having this “conversation” with the LLM where you need to critically check everything it says has the added benefit of being more actively engaged with the material as opposed to simply looking up the solution. It may be a huge waste of time if you’re not careful, but I think if you use it intelligently to guide your own thinking, it can be very helpful.