Best AI for everyday maths / head-to-head
GLM 5.2 vs Grok 4.5for everyday maths
Grok 4.5 wins, 98–97
Same 12 everyday maths tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Grok 4.5 took 2 tasks, GLM 5.2 took 2, 8 tied. Tested 14 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
In under 90 words, explain why overpaying £100/month early in a 25-year mortgage saves more interest than the same overpayments in the final 5 years. No formulas — the reason, in plain English.
Mortgage interest is charged on the amount you owe. Early in a 25-year mortgage, your debt is at its highest, so you are paying the most interest. Overpaying £100 a month at the start immediately shrinks your debt. This means you are charged less interest every single month for the next 20-plus years. In contrast, making those same overpayments in the final five years only saves interest on a much smaller balance for a short time, missing out on decades of savings.
Overpaying early slashes the large starting balance sooner. Interest builds on whatever you still owe, so cutting the debt early prevents decades of interest from accumulating on those extra payments. Near the end the balance is already tiny and little time remains, so the same £100 saves almost nothing. (58 words)
Task by task
| Task | GLM 5.2 | Grok 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| VAT both ways | 10 | 10 |
| Percentage change vs points | 10 | 10 |
| Unit price comparison | 10 | 10 |
| Mortgage overpayment intuition | 10 | 8 |
| Split a bill with a twist | 10 | 9 |
| Compound vs simple | 10 | 10 |
| The discount stack | 10 | 10 |
| Reverse percentage | 10 | 10 |
| Rate to reality | 10 | 10 |
| Average of averages trap | 10 | 10 |
| Estimate honestly | 8 | 10 |
| Refuse false precision | 8 | 10 |
Full receipts: GLM 5.2, Grok 4.5 · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra
Questions people ask
Which is better for everyday maths: GLM 5.2 or Grok 4.5?
Grok 4.5 — it scored 98/100 against 97/100 on our 12-task everyday maths suite, winning 2 tasks to 2 with 8 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.
How was this tested?
Both models answered the identical published everyday maths tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.
More everyday maths head-to-heads: Claude Opus 4.8 vs Grok 4.5 · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM 5.2 · GPT-5.6 Sol vs Grok 4.5 · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.6 Terra vs Grok 4.5 · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Full ranking: Best AI for everyday maths · model pages: GLM 5.2, Grok 4.5