Cached or calculated? The multiplication flashcards debate mirrors the LLM memory question
dbasch · x · 2026-10-01
A parent was alarmed that their 3rd grader "calculates" 7×8 by adding 16+16+16+8 instead of memorizing it, and bought flashcards. dbasch pushed back: memorized answers (like 2^24=16777216) are just cached values — why is caching worse than recomputing? The debate mirrors the classic LLM question of retrieval vs. reasoning.
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