ablation-design

# Strategy: Ablation Design **Question**: What does each component contribute? ## Methodology - **Systematic Ablation** (Newell 1974): Remove one component at a time, measure degradation. - **Replacement Ablation**: Replace component with simpler alternative to isolate contribution. - **Combinatorial Ablation** (ABLATOR): Test component subsets to detect interaction effects. - **Conditional Ablation**: Ablate components under specific data conditions to find context-dependent contributions. ## Execution Flow 1. **ablation-component-mapping** → Map system architecture to ablatable units 2. **baseline-selection** → Select full-system and minimal-system anchors 3. **metric-specification** → Define metrics that capture component contribution 4. **sample-size-estimation** → Determine runs needed for reliable delta estimation 5. **statistical-method-selection** (tactic) → Choose appropriate significance tests for deltas ## Budget Gate | Ablation Type | Components (N) | Min Runs | When to Use | |---------------|---------------|----------|-------------| | Systematic (leave-one-out) | 3-8 | N + 2 | Standard component analysis | | Replacement | 3-8 | 2N + 2 | Need to distinguish "removal" vs "simplification" | | Combinatorial (selected) | 4-6 | ~2N | Suspected interactions between components | | Combinatorial (full) | 3-4 | 2^N | Small systems, need complete picture | | Conditional | 3-6 | N * conditions | Context-dependent contributions | <!-- BEGIN available-tables (generated...