Week 5 — Math diagnostic and induction

Orientation, tooling, and diagnostics · Implement

Easy

Phase 1 — Orientation, tooling, and diagnostics

Overview

Linear algebra, probability, hypothesis choice, and generalization

Mode this week: implement. Match the work to that mode (operating model): implement ships running code; read/diagram ships a doc; deploy/benchmark ships a measured run. Personal dates, checkboxes, and the RPG layer stay in a learner journal.

Core deliverable

Diagnostic report + gap map + paper lab

Optional depth

Prove one important claim, implement one component from scratch, and verify it numerically.

Week loop (from the cookiecutter journal)

Mon — Theory: Linear algebra, probability, hypothesis choice, and generalization
Tue — Build: start the core deliverable above
Wed — Systems / papers: one paper or system note (see below if this week has assigned reading)
Thu — Eval / interview: write the four evidence items
Fri — Algorithmic Forge: Timed implementation drill with complexity note (45-90 min; Core)

Forge theme: Complexity, arrays, prefix sums, two pointers, binary search, bitmasks

Leetcode Darbar (parallel)

This week's band (1-6): Arrays, strings, hash tables, stacks, queues, searching/sorting. Production connection: Python engineering, APIs, diagnostics.

Standard: one aligned problem. Auror: the five-slot queue on the Darbar page. Tracker stays in the learner journal.

Topics: array · hash table · queue · searching and sorting · stack · string

Find Target Indices After Sorting Array · easy · array
Intersection Of Two Arrays · easy · hash table
Implement Stack Using Queues · easy · queue
Find Target Indices After Sorting Array · easy · searching and sorting
Increasing Order Search Tree · easy · stack
Binary Tree Paths · easy · string

Anchor paper

Read Michael Timothy Bennett, The Optimal Choice of Hypothesis Is the Weakest, Not the Shortest (arXiv:2301.12987).

Define task, model, extension, weakness, and description length.
Reproduce or critique the binary-arithmetic toy experiment.
Connect the result to inductive bias, leakage, calibration, and distribution shift.

Evidence contract

Every core week records all four (cookiecutter journal/weeks/week_005.md):

Code / implementation (or the design artifact on a writing week)
Benchmark / result
Design doc / technical explanation
Retrospective / learning note (Sailboat: destination, wind, anchor, rocks, heading)

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