Google Bard Fakes Math Skills Despite Being Incompetent
While ChatGPT, although slightly more proficient, still struggles to identify errors when prompted.
Today I was preparing for a year 7 math lesson, and decided to test Google Bard’s math skills by asking it the questions my class is doing:
I have a cage with cats and birds, there are 12 heads and 32 feet, how many birds and cats?
Bard replied:
Let x be the number of birds and y be the number of cats. x+y=12. 2x+4y=32. Adding the two equations, we get 6x=44. Dividing both sides by 6, we get x=7. Subtracting 7 from 12, we get y=5. So there are 7 birds and 5 cats.
Bard’s response to the question was riddled with errors:
- Bard incorrectly added the two equations and arrived at an incorrect value of 6x=44;
- Dividing both sides by 6 would not yield x=7.
So I decided to ask ChatGPT the same question.
In contrast, ChatGPT provided a correct solution with a clear explanation.