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Chapter 6 templates

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Statistics Cheat Sheet · Side B: The Always-Carry-an-Interval Report Template (Chapter 6)

Note: side B of a one-sheet, two-sided card. From this chapter on, this is the base grid of every eval report in the book. Six columns and not one may be dropped.

Report base grid (six columns)

Metric Mean Interval Cases Runs sev-layer counts
Pass rate (example) 74% ±11 (clustered by case) 50 5 sev-1: 0 / sev-2: _ / sev-3: _

Discipline

  • [ ] sev-1 counted in its own column, never averaged in, immune to interval discussions. One is one.
  • [ ] Interval convention, merged multi-run clusters by case. The denominator is the case count, not the verdict count (n×k as independent samples = pseudo-replication, the interval reported half as wide as it is).
  • [ ] Comparing two versions: check whether the two intervals separate; no separation, no declared improvement. Paired settings use McNemar (count only the cases that flip direction).
  • [ ] Primary metric designated in advance, exactly one; every other metric's "significant" is labeled exploratory, sent to reproduction, never into a conclusion.
  • [ ] The rejection rule goes on paper before the run.

Comparison report (two versions side by side)

Metric Version A (mean ± interval) Version B (mean ± interval) Intervals separate? Conclusion

Source file: templates/ch06/stats-cheat-sheet-report-template.md


Statistics Cheat Sheet · Side A: Sample-Size Quick Check (Chapter 6)

Note: side A of a one-sheet, two-sided card. Check this side before declaring any "improvement."

Sample-size quick check (95% interval half-width, rough cut: ≈ 1/√n)

Gap you want to distinguish Cases needed
±10 percentage points ≈ 100 cases
±5 percentage points ≈ 400 cases

Derivation: half-width ≈ 1/√n → to distinguish a 5-point improvement, you need about 400 cases. "How big an eval set is enough": half the answer is content, the coverage matrix (ch4); half is size, here. n is the case count, not the verdict count: merged multi-run clusters by case (each case first folds its k runs into one pass rate); repeated runs cannot press case-layer variance. 50 cases × 5 runs ≈ ±11, not 1/√250 ≈ ±6.

Flip rate

  • Algorithm: same case, same version, k runs; the share of cases whose verdicts disagree.
  • Reading: high → add runs, and book the flipping as a product defect (reproducibility is one of the six attributes); low → add cases.

pass@k / pass^k chooser

Scenario Which one Illustration
Human backstop (adopted after review) pass@k (one success in k counts)
Customer-facing autonomous execution pass^k (all k in a row succeed) single-run 90%, 5 in a row ≈ 0.9⁵ ≈ 59%

This experiment's register (fill in before the run)

  • Gap to distinguish: ________ → cases needed: ________ Actual cases: ________ Runs: ________
  • Rejection rule (what result counts as no improvement):

Source file: templates/ch06/stats-cheat-sheet-sample-size.md