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Equation 9 · Frontier AI Model Comparisons: A First-Principles Introduction

What does this equation mean?

δcontam≥0\delta_{\mathrm{contam}} \geq 0

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This equation states a bound: one expression must stay on the indicated side of the other under the article’s assumptions. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.

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δcontam\delta_{\mathrm{contam}}

Symbol delta_contam

deltaca_contam is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

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subscript

subscript

The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.

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How to interpret it

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What the article says around this equation

where atruea_{\mathrm{true}} is the capability the benchmark intends to measure, δcontam\delta_{\mathrm{contam}} ≥\geq 0 is a one-directional inflation term from training-set overlap, and εconfig\varepsilon_{\mathrm{config}} is noise contributed by harness, prompt, effort level, and grading choices, which can push the observed score in either direction. Two systems’ sobss_{\mathrm{obs}} values can differ substantially even when their atruea_{\mathrm{true}} values are identical, and can appear equal even when their atruea_{\mathrm{true}} values are not, purely through the other two terms. Nothing about this requires bad faith on anyone’s part; it follows from the measurement being taken at all.

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