# Computational Thinking Reasoning in Large Language Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02658 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.02658/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Reasoning benchmarks and evaluation, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning.
- Builds on 17 of its 41 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Jun 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM reasoning / [Reasoning benchmarks and evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/lr/reasoning-benchmarks-and-evaluation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06347/) (2017)
- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03300/) (2024)
- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.18290/) (2023)
- [Let's Verify Step by Step](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.20050/) (2023)
- [LiveCodeBench: Holistic and Contamination Free Evaluation of Large Language Models for Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07974/) (2024)
- [Competition-Level Code Generation with AlphaCode](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.07814/) (2022)
- [Program of Thoughts Prompting: Disentangling Computation from Reasoning for Numerical Reasoning Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.12588/) (2022)
- [PAL: Program-aided Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.10435/) (2022)
- [LIMO: Less is More for Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.03387/) (2025)
- [ReTool: Reinforcement Learning for Strategic Tool Use in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.11536/) (2025)
- [Cognitive Behaviors that Enable Self-Improving Reasoners, or, Four Habits of Highly Effective STaRs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.01307/) (2025)
- [Chameleon: Plug-and-Play Compositional Reasoning with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.09842/) (2023)
- [ART: Automatic multi-step reasoning and tool-use for large language models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09014/) (2023)
- [OpenCodeReasoning: Advancing Data Distillation for Competitive Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.01943/) (2025)
- [Focused-DPO: Enhancing Code Generation Through Focused Preference Optimization on Error-Prone Points](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.11475/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [A Survey of Context Engineering for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.13334/) (2025)
- [AgentMath: Empowering Mathematical Reasoning for Large Language Models via Tool-Augmented Agent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.20745/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

While large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable reasoning capabilities, they often struggle with complex tasks that require specific thinking paradigms, such as divide-and-conquer and procedural deduction, etc Previous researches integrate external, reliable tools to alleviate logical inconsistencies and hallucinations in LLMs' problem-solving processes. However, we argue that the root challenge is more profound: LLMs lack the complex thinking paradigms (ie, computational thinking) during reasoning. In this paper, we propose Computational Thinking Model (CTM), a novel framework that incorporates computational thinking paradigms into LLMs. This framework enables LLMs to reformulate complex problems through decomposition, abstraction, reduction, and simulation, among other techniques. Specifically, live code execution is seamlessly integrated into the reasoning process, allowing CTM to think by computing. CTM directly instills computational thinking objectives into LLMs through tailored reinforcement learning rewards, which encourages problem simplification, modular planning, and iterative verification. We conduct extensive evaluations on multiple code generation and mathematical benchmarks. The results demonstrate that CTM outperforms conventional reasoning models and tool-augmented baselines in terms of accuracy, interpretability, and generalizability. We hope this study offers valuable insights for AI reasoning, where LLMs can transform problems into robust, verifiable, and scalable computational workflows, much like computer scientists do.