# Enhancing LLM Reasoning for Time Series Classification by Tailored Thinking and Fused Decision

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.00807 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.00807/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Time series reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning.
- Builds on 16 of its 78 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Jun 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM reasoning / [Time series reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/lr/time-series-reasoning/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [GPT-4 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08774/) (2023)
- [The Llama 3 Herd of Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21783/) (2024)
- [DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12948/) (2025)
- [Qwen2.5 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15115/) (2024)
- [GPT-4o System Card](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.21276/) (2024)
- [Qwen Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16609/) (2023)
- [iTransformer: Inverted Transformers Are Effective for Time Series Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06625/) (2023)
- [Gemma: Open Models Based on Gemini Research and Technology](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.08295/) (2024)
- [Gemini: A Family of Highly Capable Multimodal Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11805/) (2023)
- [The UEA multivariate time series classification archive, 2018](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.00075/) (2018)
- [ChatTS: Aligning Time Series with LLMs via Synthetic Data for Enhanced Understanding and Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.03104/) (2024)
- [Language Models Still Struggle to Zero-shot Reason about Time Series](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.11757/) (2024)
- [MTBench: A Multimodal Time Series Benchmark for Temporal Reasoning and Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.16858/) (2025)
- [Mantis: Lightweight Foundation Model for Time Series Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15637/) (2025)
- [In-context Time Series Predictor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.14982/) (2024)
- [IoT-LLM: a framework for enhancing Large Language Model reasoning from real-world sensor data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.02429/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [A Survey of Reasoning and Agentic Systems in Time Series with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.11575/) (2025)
- [RAG-HAR: Retrieval Augmented Generation-based Human Activity Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.08984/) (2025)
- [Chain-of-Query: Unleashing the Power of LLMs in SQL-Aided Table Understanding via Multi-Agent Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.15809/) (2025)
- [Training-Free Time Series Classification via In-Context Reasoning with LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.05950/) (2025)
- [From Actions to Understanding: Conformal Interpretability of Temporal Concepts in LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.19775/) (2026)
- [TRACE-TS: Attribution-Grounded and Traceable Sensor-Language Reasoning for Human Activity Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.00200/) (2026)
- [Empowering VLMs for Few-Shot Multimodal Time Series Classification via Tailored Agentic Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.09395/) (2026)
- [Memory in Deep Time-Series Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.06006/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The reasoning capabilities of large language models (LLMs) have significantly advanced their performance by enabling in-depth understanding of diverse tasks. With growing interest in applying LLMs to the time series domain, this has proven nontrivial, as evidenced by the limited efficacy of straightforwardly adapting text-domain reasoning techniques. Although recent work has shown promise in several time series tasks, further leveraging advancements in LLM reasoning remains under-explored for time series classification (TSC) tasks, despite their prevalence and significance in many real-world applications. In this paper, we propose ReasonTSC, a novel framework designed to effectively leverage LLM reasoning for time series classification through both a multi-turn reasoning and a fused decision-making strategy tailored to TSC. Rather than straightforwardly applying existing reasoning techniques or relying solely on LLMs' built-in reasoning capabilities, ReasonTSC first steers the model to think over the essential characteristics of time series data. Next, it integrates predictions and confidence scores from plug-in classifiers, e.g., domain-specific time series models, as in-context examples. Finally, ReasonTSC guides the LLM through a structured reasoning process: it evaluates the initial assessment, backtracks to consider alternative hypotheses, and compares their merits before arriving at a final classification. Extensive experiments and systematic ablation studies demonstrate that ReasonTSC consistently outperforms both existing time series reasoning baselines and plug-in models, and is even capable of identifying and correcting plug-in models' false predictions.