Assessing LLMs' mathematical abilities requires understanding the various mechanisms of mathematical creativity
How should we assess whether large language models can perform mathematical invention? I argue that this question is currently underspecified: mathematical creativity is not one capacity but several mechanistically distinct modes of meaning-making - reflexive introspection on mathematical practice, analogical import from the sciences, problem-driven construction, and the bridging of distant domains - together with a further, cross-cutting distinction between meaning pursued because a pattern was observed and meaning pursued because it is strategically wanted, a distinction I develop through the case of conjecture-formation. These mechanisms are likely non-substitutable, so that competence...
| Authors | Silvère Gangloff |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.AI |
| Published | 17 August 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 17 August 2026 |
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