Decomposing MXFP4 quantization error for LLM reinforcement learning: reducible bias, recoverable deadzone, and an irreducible floor

arXiv:2605.20402v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: MXFP4 arithmetic can dramatically accelerate reinforcement learning (RL) post-training of large language models (LLMs), yet the quantization error introduces severe accuracy degradation. Existing work treats the quantization error as a monolithic noise term, missing the distinct mechanisms upon interpreting how quantization error damages training. We prove an exact three-way decomposition of quantization error and show how each component dominates a distinct RL training pathway. Our theoretical and empirical analysis decomposes the MXFP4 quantiza

Source: arXiv cs.LG — read the full report at the original publisher.

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