English

ChatGPT-4 with Code Interpreter can be used to solve introductory college-level vector calculus and electromagnetism problems

Artificial Intelligence 2023-09-19 v1 Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science Physics Education

Abstract

We evaluated ChatGPT 3.5, 4, and 4 with Code Interpreter on a set of college-level engineering-math and electromagnetism problems, such as those often given to sophomore electrical engineering majors. We selected a set of 13 problems, and had ChatGPT solve them multiple times, using a fresh instance (chat) each time. We found that ChatGPT-4 with Code Interpreter was able to satisfactorily solve most problems we tested most of the time -- a major improvement over the performance of ChatGPT-4 (or 3.5) without Code Interpreter. The performance of ChatGPT was observed to be somewhat stochastic, and we found that solving the same problem N times in new ChatGPT instances and taking the most-common answer was an effective strategy. Based on our findings and observations, we provide some recommendations for instructors and students of classes at this level.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.08881,
  title  = {ChatGPT-4 with Code Interpreter can be used to solve introductory college-level vector calculus and electromagnetism problems},
  author = {Tanuj Kumar and Mikhail A. Kats},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.08881},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

Main text and appendices

R2 v1 2026-06-28T12:23:20.939Z