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Equation 27 · Part 6 · Dense, Sparse, and Distilled: Comparing Approaches to Frontier Model Capacity

multiplication

Ctotal=Ctrain+Q⋅cˉinf,C_{\mathrm{total}} = C_{\mathrm{train}} + Q \cdot \bar{c}_{\mathrm{inf}},
multiplication

What this part means

Multiply the quantities on either side.

Its job in the formula

Multiply the quantities on either side.

The passage around this formula

Which combination a provider chooses is not primarily a research question. Write total lifetime cost as Ctotal=Ctrain+Q⋅cˉinfC_{\mathrm{total}} = C_{\mathrm{train}} + Q \cdot \bar{c}_{\mathrm{inf}}. with Q requests over the model’s life. When Q is small — a research artefact, an internal tool — the training term dominates and compute-optimal allocation is the right target. When Q is very large, the second term dominates by orders of magnitude, and every technique that reduces cˉinf\bar{c}_{\mathrm{inf}} pays back continuously while every technique that reduces CtrainC_{\mathrm{train}} pays back once.

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Learn the underlying idea

Multiplication scales one quantity by another. A dot, a cross, or adjacent symbols can indicate a product.

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Sources cited in the article section

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