Elementary Math Word Problem Generation using Large Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Ariyarathne, Nimesh, Bandara, Harshani, Heshan, Yasith, Gamage, Omega, Ranathunga, Surangika, Nayanajith, Dilan, Sivapalan, Yutharsan, Lihinikaduarachchi, Gayathri, Vihidun, Tharoosha, Chandirakumar, Meenambika, Premakumar, Sanujen, Gathsara, Sanjula
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Ariyarathne, Nimesh
Bandara, Harshani
Heshan, Yasith
Gamage, Omega
Ranathunga, Surangika
Nayanajith, Dilan
Sivapalan, Yutharsan
Lihinikaduarachchi, Gayathri
Vihidun, Tharoosha
Chandirakumar, Meenambika
Premakumar, Sanujen
Gathsara, Sanjula
author_facet Ariyarathne, Nimesh
Bandara, Harshani
Heshan, Yasith
Gamage, Omega
Ranathunga, Surangika
Nayanajith, Dilan
Sivapalan, Yutharsan
Lihinikaduarachchi, Gayathri
Vihidun, Tharoosha
Chandirakumar, Meenambika
Premakumar, Sanujen
Gathsara, Sanjula
contents Mathematics is often perceived as a complex subject by students, leading to high failure rates in exams. To improve Mathematics skills, it is important to provide sample questions for students to practice problem-solving. Manually creating Math Word Problems (MWPs) is time consuming for tutors, because they have to type in natural language while adhering to grammar and spelling rules of the language. Early techniques that use pre-trained Language Models for MWP generation either require a tutor to provide the initial portion of the MWP, and/or additional information such as an equation. In this paper, we present an MWP generation system (MathWiz) based on Large Language Models (LLMs) that overcomes the need for additional input - the only input to our system is the number of MWPs needed, the grade and the type of question (e.g.~addition, subtraction). Unlike the existing LLM-based solutions for MWP generation, we carried out an extensive set of experiments involving different LLMs, prompting strategies, techniques to improve the diversity of MWPs, as well as techniques that employ human feedback to improve LLM performance. Human and automated evaluations confirmed that the generated MWPs are high in quality, with minimal spelling and grammar issues. However, LLMs still struggle to generate questions that adhere to the specified grade and question type requirements.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_05950
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Elementary Math Word Problem Generation using Large Language Models
Ariyarathne, Nimesh
Bandara, Harshani
Heshan, Yasith
Gamage, Omega
Ranathunga, Surangika
Nayanajith, Dilan
Sivapalan, Yutharsan
Lihinikaduarachchi, Gayathri
Vihidun, Tharoosha
Chandirakumar, Meenambika
Premakumar, Sanujen
Gathsara, Sanjula
Computation and Language
Mathematics is often perceived as a complex subject by students, leading to high failure rates in exams. To improve Mathematics skills, it is important to provide sample questions for students to practice problem-solving. Manually creating Math Word Problems (MWPs) is time consuming for tutors, because they have to type in natural language while adhering to grammar and spelling rules of the language. Early techniques that use pre-trained Language Models for MWP generation either require a tutor to provide the initial portion of the MWP, and/or additional information such as an equation. In this paper, we present an MWP generation system (MathWiz) based on Large Language Models (LLMs) that overcomes the need for additional input - the only input to our system is the number of MWPs needed, the grade and the type of question (e.g.~addition, subtraction). Unlike the existing LLM-based solutions for MWP generation, we carried out an extensive set of experiments involving different LLMs, prompting strategies, techniques to improve the diversity of MWPs, as well as techniques that employ human feedback to improve LLM performance. Human and automated evaluations confirmed that the generated MWPs are high in quality, with minimal spelling and grammar issues. However, LLMs still struggle to generate questions that adhere to the specified grade and question type requirements.
title Elementary Math Word Problem Generation using Large Language Models
topic Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05950