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Equation 7 · Part 1 · The Safeguards Behind a Claude Refusal, and What They're Actually Trading Off

Symbol c_exchange

cexchangec_{\text{exchange}}
cexchangec_{\text{exchange}}

What this part means

the much larger cost of the second.

Its job in the formula

cec_exchange is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

Where the article explains it

If cprobec_{\text{probe}} is the near-free cost of the first pass and cexchangec_{\text{exchange}} the much larger cost of the second, and pescp_{\text{esc}} is the fraction of traffic the probe escalates, the expected added cost per request is cˉ\bar{c} = cprobec_{\text{probe}} + pescp_{\text{esc}} ⋅\cdot cexchangec_{\text{exchange}}.

The passage around this formula

Because pescp_{\text{esc}} is small on ordinary traffic, the average cost collapses toward cprobec_{\text{probe}} even though cexchangec_{\text{exchange}} did not get any cheaper — which is the documented reason Anthropic reports the overhead falling from 23.7% to roughly 1% between generations, alongside a drop in the harmless-traffic refusal rate to 0.05% and, across more than 1,700 cumulative red-teaming hours against the new…

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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 surrounding passage

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