A verifier checks whether a candidate answer is correct by comparing it with a reference solution, often after extraction and normalization. In this material, it is used for free-form math answers and as a benchmark-based evaluation method for reasoning models. section 3.1 section 3.10
The workflow is stepwise: generate an answer, extract the final boxed response, normalize formatting, parse it with SymPy, and compare it to ground truth. Direct string equality is not enough because equivalent expressions can look different. section 3.6 section 3.10
The verifier here connects to these pieces:
- answer extraction and normalization before checking. section 3.10
- ground truth and symbolic equivalence checking for math. section 3.6
- evaluation workflows for reasoning models and MATH-500. section 3.1 section 3.10
Concrete check
A normalized fraction like 13/4 matches an equivalent form like (13)/(4), and 0.5 matches (1)/(2), but 14/3 does not match 15/3. section 3.6 section 3.10
