I highly recommend GNU units for stuff like this. It’s insanely powerful. See the following comment for its immense versatility
I’m ashamed I asked but this post is not about me
Submitted 5 months ago by lars@lemmy.sdf.org to [deleted]
https://lemmy.sdf.org/pictrs/image/b1801247-fd91-43fc-95b7-1e52f73a7d77.png
Comments
RobotZap10000@feddit.nl 5 months ago
Have you tried using a calculator?
AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I’m fairness, a calculator wouldn’t explain how to get there. An LLM might not explain it correctly, but it will explain it.
Technus@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
WolframAlpha will do the right math, and walk you through it (though IIRC you have to pay for that part).
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 months ago
So a calculator is more valuable, then.
pelletbucket@lemm.ee 5 months ago
how is a calculator going to explain to you that you forgot to convert units
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 5 months ago
Use Wolfram Alpha, which is a mathematics engine first and text parser second (and it shows: the math is flawless but it wouldn’t understand the query; both need to be asked separately: 1/2)
Of course, any calculator will do for this, it’s easy to verify that 2÷3×14 = 14÷1.5.
jdeath@lemm.ee 5 months ago
isn’t it funny how humans will end up using a trillion times more energy so that the calculator can be less reliable, but acts like a person
Magister@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It happens, I once ask a question about a spinning wheel and the rpm required to have 1G. chatGPT started a couple of calculus and in the end answered that to have 1G, the diameter should be 7 times the radius. I answered back “this does not make sense, a diameter is by definition 2 times the radius”, it apologized and redid the right calculus :)
Technus@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
This is because LLMs do not inherently understand math. They stick characters together that are likely to go together based on the content they were trained on. They’re literally just glorified autocorrect.
If you want a tool that can actually do math from natural language input, try WolframAlpha.
ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I am so glad to see someone pushing Wolfram Alpha. It’s frustrating that more people don’t know about it, when it’s been around so long now.
MindTraveller@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Calling the inputs to use wolfram alpha effectively natural language is very generous. I could never get the hang of it
Donkter@lemmy.world 5 months ago
This is what people don’t understand about char gpt. It’s not a tool for accuracy, even the company who made it says that. Then idiots come in and say “see it does math wrong! And it can’t get a fact right! Only a moron would say this is the wave of the future!” And don’t get me wrong. Google added it into their search engine because of the hype and low and behold, the LLM was inaccurate.
What is chat gpt food for? Creativity and abstracting. An LLM model is really good when you need a list of 10 terrible names for a dog food company to get your brain thinking. It’s good at helping someone outline a story they want to write or make their email sound more professional. It’s useful as an aid to help someone plan a schedule. The best use of chatgpt is to work with it, not try to get it to do a task without you. An LLM works best with piecemeal feedback and someone knowledgeable in the subject that can vet the answers it’s giving.
bulwark@lemmy.world 5 months ago
That’s why I can’t ever trust what it says. No conviction. I’m like stick to your guns chatGPT.