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Abstract - Are We Measuring Strategy or Phrasing? The Gap Between Surface- and Approach-Level Diversity in LLM Math Reasoning
Diversity in LLM mathematical reasoning is critical for exploration, but common diversity metrics mostly capture surface-level variation rather than differences in how a problem is solved. We address this gap by introducing approach-level diversity: variation in strategies across correct solutions to the same problem. Using a human-calibrated LLM judge framework, we show that prior diversity measures are unreliable proxies for approach-level diversity, and this mismatch carries over to diversity-aware RLVR, where target metrics are preserved while approach-level diversity declines. Investigating when approach-level diversity helps and whether it can be directly induced, we find that approach-diverse candidate sets improve test-time scaling. However, optimizing an LLM judge diversity reward during training causes the policy to exploit judge-specific preferences rather than broaden its approaches, leaving direct optimization of approach-level diversity as an open problem. Together, our work introduces the notion of approach-level diversity and uncovers a systematic divergence between surface- and approach-level signals, marking a step toward LLMs that reason in genuinely diverse, human-like ways.
我们衡量的是策略还是措辞?大型语言模型数学推理中表面多样性与方法级多样性的差距 /
Are We Measuring Strategy or Phrasing? The Gap Between Surface- and Approach-Level Diversity in LLM Math Reasoning
1️⃣ 一句话总结
本文提出“方法级多样性”这一概念,指出在大型语言模型的数学推理中,常见的多样性指标往往只捕捉到语言表述上的表面差异,而忽略了解决问题策略的根本不同,并通过实验揭示了这种偏差会影响模型训练和性能,同时表明直接优化方法级多样性仍是一个挑战。