Formalizing Numerical Analysis: An Agent Pipeline and Quality Audit Beyond Kernel Acceptance
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Educational agents and math problem solving
Abstract (arXiv)
Recent work has demonstrated that coding agents can formalize entire advanced mathematics textbooks in Lean 4, yet existing efforts concentrate on branches of mathematics already well-represented in mathlib and measure success solely through kernel acceptance. We address both limitations by applying a coding agent to formalize Numerical Methods for Ordinary Differential Equations, a textbook in numerical analysis that is largely absent from mathlib, stressing the agent's capacity to develop new theory from scratch. We further introduce a systematic, reproducible three-dimensional framework for evaluating the quality of agent-produced formalizations beyond compilation: semantic correctness, Mathlib reuse, and cross-file reuse via LLM-as-judge methods. Applying this framework to our own formalization and to the released outputs of RepoProver and M2F, we uncover recurring unfaithful formalization patterns, including incomplete multi-part statements, added weakening hypotheses, and parameter restrictions, that kernel acceptance entirely obscures. Our results suggest that compilation-based metrics substantially overstate formalization quality, and we provide a reproducible audit methodology to support more rigorous evaluation of future autoformalization systems.
Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Educational agents and math problem solving, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 14 of its 30 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 12 Jun 2026.
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14 of 30 references.
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Other references · 13
- 2021MiniF2F: a cross-system benchmark for formal Olympiad-level mathematicscited by 391
- 2022Draft, Sketch, and Prove: Guiding Formal Theorem Provers with Informal Proofscited by 291
- 2025DeepSeek-Prover-V2: Advancing Formal Mathematical Reasoning via Reinforcement Learning for Subgoal Decompositioncited by 287
- 2022Autoformalization with Large Language Modelscited by 263
- 2025Kimina-Prover Preview: Towards Large Formal Reasoning Models with Reinforcement Learningcited by 180
- 2019The Lean mathematical librarycited by 134
- 2024Autoformalize Mathematical Statements by Symbolic Equivalence and Semantic Consistencycited by 41
- 2024LeanAgent: Lifelong Learning for Formal Theorem Provingcited by 35
- 2025Autoformalization in the Era of Large Language Models: A Surveycited by 21
- 2025ReForm: Reflective Autoformalization with Prospective Bounded Sequence Optimizationcited by 20
- 2026130k Lines of Formal Topology in Two Weeks: Simple and Cheap Autoformalization for Everyone?cited by 18
- 2026LeanSearch v2: Global Premise Retrieval for Lean 4 Theorem Provingcited by 10
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Citing papers per year: 2026: 5.
5 papers.
- 2026CausalSmith: A Formally Grounded, Self-Improving Agentic Framework for Automated Research in Causal Inferencecited by 1
- 2026AxQM: A Textbook-Scale Benchmark for Formal Proof Synthesis in a Library of Finite-Dimensional Quantum Mechanicscited by 1
- 2026Lean Pool: An AI-Maintained Archive of Formalized Mathematicscited by 1
- 2026Choir: An Open Protocol for Distributed Multi-Agent Autoformalizationcited by 0
- 2026Aligning Faithfulness for Theory-Scale Autoformalizationcited by 0
- 2026Aligning Faithfulness for Theory-Scale Autoformalization13 Oct 2026
- 2026Choir: An Open Protocol for Distributed Multi-Agent Autoformalization25 Sep 2026
- 2026Lean Pool: An AI-Maintained Archive of Formalized Mathematics21 Sep 2026
- 2026AxQM: A Textbook-Scale Benchmark for Formal Proof Synthesis in a Library of Finite-Dimensional Quantum Mechanics4 Sep 2026
- 2026CausalSmith: A Formally Grounded, Self-Improving Agentic Framework for Automated Research in Causal Inference24 Jul 2026
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2026Beyond the Library: An Agentic Framework for Autoformalizing Research Mathematics
- 2026FORALL-LEAN-AGENT for Auditable Reasoning in Formal Mathematics and Software Verification
- 2026Formalizing Mathematics at Scale
- 2026M2F: Automated Formalization of Mathematical Literature at Scale
- 2026FormalScience: Scalable Human-in-the-Loop Autoformalisation of Science with Agentic Code Generation in Lean
- 2026Prove2Me: An Open Collaborative Platform for Scaling Math Formalization
- 2026ProofJudge: Tool-Grounded LLM Evaluation of Formal Proof Quality in Mathlib
- 2026Proof-Refactor: Refactoring Generated Formal Proofs into Modular Artifacts