Deep Learning in Automatic MathWord Problem Solvers

Abstract

The design of an automatic solver for mathematical word problems (MWPs) dates back to the early 1960s and regained booming attention in recent years, owing to revolutionary advances in deep learning. Its objective is to parse the human-readable word problems into machine-understandable logical expressions. The problem is challenging due to the existence of a substantial semantic gap. To a certain extent, MWPs have been recognized as good test beds to evaluate the intelligence level of agents in terms of natural language understanding and automatic reasoning. The successful solving of MWPs can benefit online tutoring and constitute a milestone toward general AI. In this chapter, we present a general introduction to the technical evolution trend for MWP solvers in recent decades and pay particular attention to recent advancement with deep learning models. We also report their performances on public benchmark datasets, which can update readers’ understandings of the latest status of automatic math problem solvers.