Reasoning
Reasoning #5

There are 100 closed lockers in a hallway. 100 cats walk by. The first cat toggles every locker. The second cat toggles every 2nd locker. The third cat toggles every 3rd locker. And so on — the nth cat toggles every nth locker. After all 100 cats have passed: (a) which lockers are open? (b) Why? Prove your answer mathematically.

14 models responded

high10.0
Run 1 of 2

Judge: Correct identification of perfect squares as the answer with all 10 lockers listed. Provides a rigorous mathematical proof: connects toggling to divisor count, proves divisors come in pairs except for perfect squares, and formally shows why only squares have odd divisor counts. Both informal and formal proof versions are provided. Exceptionally clear.

This is a classic mathematical puzzle! Let's break it down. Understanding the Mechanics • Each locker starts closed. • "Toggling" means if it's closed, it opens; if it's open, it closes. • A locker'...
gemini/gemini-2.5-flash · 2026-03-02avg: 10.0
high10.0

Judge: Complete response with the correct answer, all 10 lockers, and a full pairing proof culminating in d^2 = m. Clear and self-contained.

Answer (a) The lockers that remain open are exactly the ones numbered with perfect squares: \[ 1,4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81,100 \] So there are 10 open lockers. (b) Why? Proof Let locker \(m\) be any ...
openai/gpt-5.4-mini · 2026-06-10
GPT-5.5OpenAI
high10.0

Judge: Correctly identifies all 10 perfect-square lockers and gives a rigorous proof: toggles equal divisor count, divisors pair off except when d = k/d (perfect squares), so only squares have an odd count. Both hard constraints met. Exceptionally clear.

(a) Which lockers are open? The open lockers are exactly the perfect-square-numbered lockers: \[ 1,\ 4,\ 9,\ 16,\ 25,\ 36,\ 49,\ 64,\ 81,\ 100 \] So there are 10 open lockers. (b) Why? Locker \(k...
openai/gpt-5.5 · 2026-06-10
DeepSeek V4DeepSeek
high10.0

Judge: Identifies all perfect squares and proves the result via the divisor-pairing argument with the square-root self-pairing exception. Mathematical explanation is complete and both hard constraints are satisfied. Clear and concise.

The open lockers are those with perfect square numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100. Why? A locker is toggled (opened if closed, closed if open) by a cat if the cat’s number divides the lo...
deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro · 2026-06-10
GPT-5.4OpenAI
high10.0

Judge: Correctly lists all 10 open lockers (perfect squares 1-100) and gives a rigorous proof: locker n is toggled once per divisor, divisors pair as (d, n/d) except when d^2 = n, so only perfect squares have an odd divisor count. Includes worked examples (12 and 36) that reinforce the argument. Both hard constraints are clearly met.

Answer: (a) Which lockers are open? The lockers that remain open are exactly the ones with numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100 These are the perfect squares from \(1^2\) to \(10^2\). (b)...
openai/gpt-5.4 · 2026-06-11
Claude FableAnthropic
high10.0

Judge: Correctly lists all 10 perfect-square lockers and gives a rigorous divisor-pairing proof (d paired with k/d, self-paired only when d^2 = k), plus the prime-factorization formulation as a second proof. Worked examples (12 and 36) are arithmetically correct. Exemplary on every dimension.

The Locker Problem (a) Answer The open lockers are exactly the perfect squares: $$1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100$$ — ten lockers in total. (b) Proof Step 1: Count how many times each locke...
anthropic/claude-fable-5 · 2026-06-11
DeepSeek R1DeepSeek
high9.8

Judge: Correct answer (perfect squares 1-100) with a rigorous mathematical proof. The proof uses prime factorization to show d(n) is odd iff all exponents are even iff n is a perfect square. This is a textbook-quality proof, not just an intuition. Lists all 10 open lockers. The divisor function formulation is clean and the converse direction is explicitly addressed. Excellent mathematical writing.

(a) Which lockers are open? The open lockers are: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100. (b) Why? Mathematical Proof Reasoning: A locker's final state (open or closed) depends on how many times it i...
deepseek/deepseek-reasoner · 2026-03-02
o4-miniOpenAI
high9.6

Judge: Correct identification of perfect squares (1,4,9,...,100) with a rigorous mathematical proof. Clearly establishes that locker k is toggled tau(k) times, that tau(k) is odd iff k is a perfect square, and proves the pairing argument for divisors. Lists all 10 open lockers. The proof is clean, well-structured, and mathematically complete.

(a) Exactly the lockers numbered by perfect squares remain open. In other words, the open lockers are 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100. (b) Proof by counting toggles = counting divisors 1....
openai/o4-mini · 2026-03-02
GPT-4oOpenAI
high9.0

Judge: Correctly identifies perfect squares as the answer and lists all 10. The mathematical proof clearly explains divisor pairing and why perfect squares have an odd divisor count, using 36 as a concrete example. Solid proof though could be slightly more formal.

(a) The lockers that remain open are those numbered with perfect squares: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, and 100. (b) To understand why these lockers remain open, consider the process of toggling. ...
openai/gpt-4o · 2026-03-01
Claude OpusAnthropic
high8.6
Run 1 of 2

Judge: Correctly identifies perfect squares (1,4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81,100) as the answer. Provides the key insight about divisors coming in pairs except when d=n/d (perfect squares). Begins a formal proof using prime factorization but the response is truncated. The divisor-pairing argument is the correct mathematical explanation. Lists all 10 open lockers. The truncation prevents seeing the complete proof, but the visible reasoning is rigorous.

I need to analyze which lockers will be open after all 100 cats have passed. Let me think about what happens to each locker. A locker changes state (open to closed or closed to open) each time it's t...
anthropic/claude-opus-4-20250514 · 2026-03-01avg: 9.3
Claude SonnetAnthropic
high8.2
Run 1 of 2

Judge: Correctly identifies that perfect squares are the open lockers. The proof is solid: divisors come in pairs (d, n/d), except when d = sqrt(n), so only perfect squares have an odd number of divisors. Uses concrete examples (12 and 16) to illustrate. The response is truncated before listing all 10 perfect squares, but the mathematical reasoning is complete and rigorous.

I need to determine which lockers will be open after all 100 cats have passed by. Let me think about this systematically by considering what happens to each locker. Analysis For any locker number n...
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514 · 2026-03-01avg: 9.1
Claude HaikuAnthropic
high8.2
Run 1 of 2

Judge: Correct answer (perfect squares) with all 10 lockers listed. The proof is well-structured: establishes divisor-toggle connection, explains why divisors pair up, shows perfect squares are the exception. Truncated at the end but the core proof is complete. Uses good concrete examples (12 vs 16).

The Locker Problem (a) Answer: Lockers 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, and 100 are open These are the perfect squares from 1 to 100. (b) Proof Key insight: A locker's final state depends on how m...
anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · 2026-03-01avg: 8.8
Phi-4Microsoft
high7.8
Run 1 of 2

Judge: Correctly identifies perfect squares as the answer with a sound mathematical proof. Explains that divisors come in pairs except for square roots, giving perfect squares an odd number of divisors. The response is truncated before listing all 10 perfect squares, but the reasoning and proof are solid. Covers both the 'what' and 'why' as requested.

To solve this problem, we need to determine which lockers remain open after all 100 cats have toggled them according to the given pattern. Analysis: Each locker is toggled by a cat if the locker num...
ollama/phi4 · 2026-03-01avg: 8.4
high0.6
Run 1 of 2

Judge: Completely wrong answer. Claims the open lockers are primes, when the correct answer is perfect squares (1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100). The reasoning is fundamentally flawed -- incorrectly claims a locker is toggled only if its number is prime, which contradicts basic number theory (a locker is toggled once for each of its divisors). Fails both hard constraints.

Hard constraint failed: Must identify perfect squares as the answer -- claims primes are the answer instead. Must provide mathematical explanation -- the explanation given is mathematically wrong.
Step 1: Understand the problem and identify what we're asked to find We need to determine after 100 cats passing by, which of the 100 closed lockers will be open. We also have to explain why these spe...
ollama/llama3.1:8b · 2026-03-01avg: 0.9