Mathematical Reasoning in Large Language Models: Assessing Logical and
  Arithmetic Errors across Wide Numerical Ranges
Authors: name: Safal Shrestha; name: Minwu Kim; name: Keith Ross
Published: 2025-02-12 09:53:10

Abstract: Mathematical reasoning in Large Language Models (LLMs) is often evaluated
using benchmarks with limited numerical ranges, failing to reflect real-world
problem-solving across diverse scales. Furthermore, most existing evaluation
methods only compare model outputs to ground-truth answers, obscuring insights
into reasoning processes. To address these limitations, we introduce
GSM-Ranges, a dataset generator derived from GSM8K that systematically perturbs
numerical values in math problems to assess model robustness across varying
numerical scales. Additionally, we propose a novel grading methodology that
distinguishes between logical and non-logical errors, offering a more precise
evaluation of reasoning processes beyond computational accuracy. Our
experiments with various models reveal a significant increase in logical error
rates-up to 14 percentage points-as numerical complexity rises, demonstrating a
general weakness in reasoning with out-of-distribution numerical values.
Moreover, while models demonstrate high accuracy on standalone arithmetic
tasks, their performance deteriorates substantially when computations are
embedded within word problems. These findings provide a comprehensive
evaluation of LLMs' mathematical reasoning capabilities and inform future
research directions for improving numerical generalization in language models.