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xavier.batlle
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Yes, like 0.20 is ten times greater than 0.2 
Gasman
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Strings are different though? Yes?
The question was not specifying strings?, but numerics.
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GPGeorge
George Hepworth
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This illustrates very well my experience with most AI LLMs. Going in, we assume a certain level of context and tend to think that the LLM will share that context. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The thing is, LLMs lack contextual experience.
To explain the problem as I see it, I resort to something I learned many, many years ago studying for a degree in language teaching in college.
The concept is called rhetorical competence. It refers to the fact that a speaker learning a new language for the first time has to rely on word-for-word or phrase-for-phrase translation for meanings. However, native speakers also bring their entire experience to the task. So, while the explicit meanings of words or phrases are the same for both, the non-native speaker lacks what we called rhetorical competence, which is derived from that experience, to understand "the meaning behind the literal meaning.
The most famous example of this relies on remembering that before smart phones and similar devices, a lot of people wore wrist watches. Maybe you still have one in a drawer?
Anyway, setting the scene. A person standing at a bus stop. Another person walks up to the bus stop to join the first.
The first person says to the second, "Hey, do you have a wrist watch?"
The literal meaning of that question requires a yes or no answer. "Yes, I do have a watch." or "No, I do not have a watch."
And that is pretty much where LLMs are.
The rhetorically competent speaker of the language, however, puts the question in context. We're both here to catch a bus. Buses run on schedules. This person doesn't have a watch (otherwise why ask the question). This person wants to know what time it is because he's waiting for a specific bus."
So, the rhetorically correct answer is NOT, "Yes, I have a watch."
The correct answer is, "It's 10 minutes until the next bus arrives."
Someday LLMs will be able to interpret the rhetorical meaning of our questions, and not just the literal meaning. Until then, we have to be very precise. If you want them to compare strings to strings, tell them that. If you want them to compare numbers to numbers, tell then that.
To explain the problem as I see it, I resort to something I learned many, many years ago studying for a degree in language teaching in college.
The concept is called rhetorical competence. It refers to the fact that a speaker learning a new language for the first time has to rely on word-for-word or phrase-for-phrase translation for meanings. However, native speakers also bring their entire experience to the task. So, while the explicit meanings of words or phrases are the same for both, the non-native speaker lacks what we called rhetorical competence, which is derived from that experience, to understand "the meaning behind the literal meaning.
The most famous example of this relies on remembering that before smart phones and similar devices, a lot of people wore wrist watches. Maybe you still have one in a drawer?
Anyway, setting the scene. A person standing at a bus stop. Another person walks up to the bus stop to join the first.
The first person says to the second, "Hey, do you have a wrist watch?"
The literal meaning of that question requires a yes or no answer. "Yes, I do have a watch." or "No, I do not have a watch."
And that is pretty much where LLMs are.
The rhetorically competent speaker of the language, however, puts the question in context. We're both here to catch a bus. Buses run on schedules. This person doesn't have a watch (otherwise why ask the question). This person wants to know what time it is because he's waiting for a specific bus."
So, the rhetorically correct answer is NOT, "Yes, I have a watch."
The correct answer is, "It's 10 minutes until the next bus arrives."
Someday LLMs will be able to interpret the rhetorical meaning of our questions, and not just the literal meaning. Until then, we have to be very precise. If you want them to compare strings to strings, tell them that. If you want them to compare numbers to numbers, tell then that.
