Equation 1 · The Token Tax of Giving a Model More Tools
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the tool-independent charge. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.
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subscript
subscript
The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.
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What the article says around this equation
Call this fixed, tool-independent charge . On top of it sits the actual content of the catalogue: for n tools attached to a request, each with a schema costing tokens for its name, description, and JSON Schema of parameters, the tool-visibility component of a single request’s input is
Sources cited in the article section
- [4] Pricing ↗
- [6] Function Calling ↗
- [5] Introducing Advanced Tool Use on the Claude Developer Platform ↗
These citations give research context. Read each source to check which claims it supports.