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Equation 23 · Part 4 · Why Average Success Rate Hides the Failures That Matter Most

Numerator: 3

qτ≲3nq_\tau \lesssim \frac{3}{n}
33

What this part means

The complete quantity above the fraction bar.

Its job in the formula

3 occurs above the fraction bar. The numerator is divided by the entire denominator below it.

The passage around this formula

Suppose an evaluation runs n independent trials of a consequential task and observes zero failures above the severity threshold τ\tau . It is tempting to read that as evidence the risk is negligible. It is not, and the size of the gap has a name: the rule of three. If the true failure probability is qτq_\tau , the probability of observing zero events in n independent trials is (1-qτq_\tau)^n ; setting that probability equal to 0.05 and solving gives n ln⁡(1−qτ)\ln(1-q_\tau) ≈\approx -3 , and for small qτq_\tau , where ln⁡(1−qτ)\ln(1-q_\tau) ≈\approx -qτq_\tau , this reduces to the boundary qτ≲3nq_\tau \lesssim \frac{3}{n}. as the 95 percent upper confidence bound on the true rate, a result formalised by Hanley and Lippman-Hand’s…

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Learn the underlying idea

A fraction a/b means a divided by b. The top number is the numerator; the bottom number is the denominator, and it cannot be zero.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.