Equation 1 · Function Calling, MCP, and the Other Ways to Give a Model Tools
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the number of distinct model-facing client applications. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.
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That combinatorial framing is worth making explicit, as a stylized model rather than a measured cost curve. Call the number of distinct model-facing client applications M and the number of distinct external tools or data sources N . Absent any shared protocol, a connector is needed for each pairing that is actually wanted, so the number of bespoke integrations that must be built and separately kept current scales as
Sources cited in the article section
- [5] Introducing the Model Context Protocol ↗
- [6] Specification ↗
- [7] Server Features: Tools ↗
- [8] Authorization ↗
- [4] Tool use with Claude ↗
These citations give research context. Read each source to check which claims it supports.
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