Symbol k

The passage around this formula

…and worth writing down as an identity: $T_{\mathrm{start}} = T_{\mathrm{sys}} + T_{\mathrm{mem}} + T_{\mathrm{env}} + T_{\mathrm{tools}} + \sum_{i=1}^{k} M_i$. where $M_i$ is the token count of the i -th memory file discovered along the walk from the filesystem root to the working directory, summed over however many, k , are found. Every term is committed before the developer types a word. The point is not the specific numbers; it is that $T_{\mathrm{start}}$ is arithmetic settled at launch, and every additional CLAUDE.md file anyone commits to a repository is a term someone chose to add to it, permanently, for…

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