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Numerical Instability and Chaos: Quantifying the Unpredictability of Large Language Models

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arXiv:2604.13206v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: As Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly integrated into agentic workflows, their unpredictability stemming from numerical instability has emerged as a critical reliability issue. While recent studies have demonstrated the significant downstream effects of these instabilities, the root causes and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this paper, we present a rigorous analysis of how unpredictability is rooted in the finite numerical precision of floating-point representations, tracking how rounding errors propagate, amplify, or dissipate through Transformer computation layers. Specifically, we identify a chaotic "avalanche effect" in the early layers, where minor perturbations trigger binary outcomes: either rapid amplification or complete attenuation. Beyond specific error instances, we demonstrate that LLMs exhibit universal, scale-dependent chaotic behaviors characterized by three distinct regimes: 1) a stable regi...

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Numerical Instability and Chaos: Quantifying the Unpredictability of Large Language Models — Steek | Steek