Equation 3 · Part 2 · From Origins to Frontier: A History of Robotics and Embodied AI
Symbol q
What this part means
q is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
Its job in the formula
q is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
Full expression→Symbol q→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
…because it explains why the next eighteen months mattered more than the raw distance suggests. If a course of length L miles must be driven without a mission-ending error, and a vehicle’s probability of such an error is q per mile and roughly independent from one mile to the next, the probability of finishing the course is approximately . Over a 142-mile course, even a per-mile reliability of 99 percent yields a finishing probability under 25 percent, and the 2004 fleet did not come close to…
Learn the underlying idea
A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.
Open the illustrated variables: a letter stands for a value guide →
See this notation across published equations →
Sources cited in the surrounding passage
These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.