this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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Ok, you have a moderately complex math problem you needed to solve. You gave the problem to 6 LLMS all paid versions. All 6 get the same numbers. Would you trust the answer?

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[–] tal@olio.cafe 1 points 7 hours ago

Why would I bother?

Because you want to have a single interface that accepts natural-language input and gives answers.

That doesn't mean that using an LLM as a calculator is a reasonable approach


though a larger system that incorporates an LLM might be. But I think that the goal is very understandable. I have Maxima, a symbolic math package, on my smartphone and computers. It's quite competent at probably just about any sort of mathematical problem that pretty much any typical person might want to do. It costs nothing. But...you do need to learn something about the package to be able to use it. You don't have to learn much of anything that a typical member of the public doesn't already know to use a prompt that accepts natural-language input. And that barrier is enough that most people won't use it.