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Equation 13 · Part 3 · The Hardest Unsolved Problems in Small and On-Device AI

superscript

θi∗\theta_i^{*}
superscript

What this part means

A raised number can be a power. When it is a label or bound, it selects a case or the upper limit of a sum; the formula’s structure distinguishes these uses.

Its job in the formula

A raised mark can be a power or an index. Its position and the surrounding notation determine which.

The passage around this formula

where θi∗\theta_i^{*} is the old optimum for parameter i and λ\lambda sets how strongly the old task is protected. This equation exposes the actual trade rather than resolving it: raising λ\lambda protects old knowledge at the direct expense of how much the new update is allowed to change the model, and there is no value of λ\lambda that removes the trade — only one that relocates it. It also exposes a cost specific to on-device deployment: computing and storing FiF_i for every parameter, and doing so repeatedly as the device keeps learning, is itself memory and compute that a phone-class budget has to find room for, on top of whatever the update itself costs.

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Learn the underlying idea

An exponent tells how a base is used in multiplication. In x³, x is the base and 3 is the exponent: x³ = x × x × x.

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Sources cited in the article section

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