← All parts of this equation

Equation 3 · Part 2 · Running an Interpretability Investigation That Holds Up

Symbol α

Pk=1−(1−α)k,P_k = 1-(1-\alpha)^k,
α\alpha

What this part means

α is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.

Its job in the formula

α is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.

The passage around this formula

…the investigation has stopped testing a hypothesis and started constructing one to fit the data. The same failure has a clean statistical description. Sweep enough components at a nominal per-test false-positive rate α\alpha and report only the one that clears threshold, and the probability that at least one clears by chance alone across k independently tested components is Pk=1−(1−α)kP_k = 1-(1-\alpha)^k. which climbs toward certainty well before k reaches the size of a typical layer-by-layer or head-by-head sweep. A…

Read this part in the article →

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.