Equation 17 · Part 2 · The Economics and Physical Limits of Running AI Agents at Scale
Symbol p_in
What this part means
n is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Its job in the formula
n is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Full expression→Symbol p_in→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
Because the API is stateless between calls, step i in the loop must include, as ordinary input, everything that made it into the transcript through step i-1 : the tool results, the intermediate reasoning, the earlier outputs. Call the amount a single step permanently adds to that growing transcript — roughly plus , since both the new material a step introduces and the output it produces become part of what every later step has to resend. Without caching, step i ’s input is not just + ; it is + plus the accumulated weight of every prior step, (i-1) : . Summed over an n -step trajectory, that gives
Learn the underlying idea
A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.
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Sources cited in the article section
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