Best AI for everyday maths / head-to-head
GPT-5.5 vs Grok 4.5for everyday maths
Dead heat: 98 each
Same 12 everyday maths tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. 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.
Overpaying early cuts the outstanding mortgage balance when it’s still large. Because interest is charged on what you still owe, that smaller balance means you’re charged less interest every month for many years. Those savings then keep building over the remaining term. In the final 5 years, the balance is already much lower and there’s little time left for the reduced interest to add up, so the same £100/month has a much smaller effect.
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 | GPT-5.5 | 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 | 9 | 10 |
| Refuse false precision | 9 | 10 |
Full receipts: GPT-5.5, Grok 4.5 · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5
Questions people ask
Which is better for everyday maths: GPT-5.5 or Grok 4.5?
They tied at 98/100 on our everyday maths suite — for this job, pick on price or the product you already use.
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 GPT-5.5 · Claude Opus 4.8 vs Grok 4.5 · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.6 Sol vs Grok 4.5 · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Terra vs Grok 4.5
Full ranking: Best AI for everyday maths · model pages: GPT-5.5, Grok 4.5