Notation

One symbol per concept, used the same way on every page

Every equation on this site uses the symbols below. A symbol keeps one meaning across the anchored and Bayesian families, so a reader who learns it on one page can read it on the next. Where a symbol has a setting or an output, the name is given beside it. Hyphenated names belong to the separate panel workflow; posterior outputs lists the main API’s underscore names.

Indices

Symbol Meaning
\(t\) The target period being estimated
\(i\) A past period in the history the method learns from
\(j\) A reading of growth: \(0\) for the prior, \(M\) for model, \(C\) consensus
\(n\) The number of observations in a history sample; \(n_j\) for reading \(j\)

Levels

Lowercase letters are levels, in the units the KPI is reported in.

Symbol Meaning Name
\(y_t\) The reported actual
\(y_{t-1}\) The latest actual reported before \(t\), the growth base
\(m_t\) The model’s forecast model
\(c_t\) The consensus consensus
\(c_{-30}\) The consensus read 30 days earlier
\(c_t^*\) The consensus after bias correction adjusted-consensus
\(d_t\) The analyst dispersion around consensus consensus-stdev
\(k_t\) The number of contributing analysts consensus-count
\(\hat y_t\) The published level prediction

Anchored family

The anchored family works in surprise space, relative to consensus.

Symbol Meaning Name
\(\Delta\) The gap, \((m-c)/\lvert c\rvert\) consensus_gap
\(r\) The revision, \(c/c_{-30}-1\)
\(s\) The surprise, \(y/c-1\), known only after the report
\(\hat s\) The expected surprise expected_surprise
\(a\) The customary beat, the intercept customary_beat
\(b_\Delta\) The gap weight gap_weight
\(b_r\) The revision weight revision_weight

Bayesian family: growth and the blend

The Bayesian family works in growth space: a level \(v\) becomes the growth \(v/y_{t-1}-1\).

Symbol Meaning Name
\(\theta_t\) The unknown growth being estimated
\(g_t\) Realised growth, \(y_t/y_{t-1}-1\) actual-growth
\(x_{M,t}\) Model growth, \(m_t/y_{t-1}-1\) model-growth
\(x_{C,t}\) Consensus growth, \(c_t^*/y_{t-1}-1\) consensus-growth
\(x_C^{\mathrm{raw}}\) Consensus growth before bias correction, \(c_t/y_{t-1}-1\)
\(\mu_0\) The prior mean, the mean of realised growth prior-mean
\(e_{j,i}\) The error of reading \(j\) against realised growth \(g_i\)
\(\sigma_j^2\) The variance of reading \(j\)
\(\tau_j\) The precision of reading \(j\), \(1/\sigma_j^2\)
\(\tau_0\) The prior precision prior-precision
\(\tau_M\) The model precision model-precision
\(\tau_C\) The consensus precision consensus-precision
\(T\) The total precision, \(\tau_0+\tau_M+\tau_C\) total-precision
\(w_j\) The weight of reading \(j\), \(\tau_j/T\)
\(w_0\) The prior weight prior-weight
\(w_M\) The model weight model-weight
\(w_C\) The consensus weight consensus-weight
\(\hat\theta\) The posterior growth posterior-growth
\(\sigma_\theta\) The posterior standard deviation, \(T^{-1/2}\) posterior-growth-stdev
\(\varepsilon\) The numerical floor, \(10^{-12}\)

Bayesian family: options

Symbol Meaning Setting or output
\(\lambda\) The share of the consensus bias removed consensus_bias_lambda
\(\rho_i\) The relative consensus error, \((c_i-y_i)/y_i\)
\(\beta_t\) The filtered consensus bias; published as \(100\beta_t\) consensus-bias-pct
\(K_i\) The Kalman gain
\(P_i\) The variance of the bias estimate
\(Q\) The process variance of the bias consensus_bias_process_noise
\(R\) The measurement variance of each error consensus_bias_measurement_noise
\(\delta_t\) Dispersion as growth, \(d_t/\lvert y_{t-1}\rvert\) consensus-stdev-growth
\(\kappa\) The dispersion variance multiplier consensus_stdev_variance_multiplier
\(\alpha\) The analyst count exponent consensus_count_exponent

Bayesian family: intervals and direction

Symbol Meaning Setting or output
\(p\) The interval coverage interval_width
\(\nu\) The Student-t degrees of freedom interval_df
\(\ell\) The Student-t location interval_loc
\(\omega\) The Student-t scale interval_scale
\(z_i\) The standardised residual, \((g_i-\hat\theta_i)/\sigma_{\theta,i}\) standardised-residual
\(F\) The distribution of \(z\): Student-t or empirical interval_method
\(q_L\) The lower quantile of \(F\), at \((1-p)/2\)
\(q_U\) The upper quantile of \(F\), at \(1-(1-p)/2\)
\(\theta_L\) The lower growth bound posterior-growth-lower
\(\theta_U\) The upper growth bound posterior-growth-upper
\(\gamma\) The standardised consensus gap, \((x_C^{\mathrm{raw}}-\hat\theta)/\sigma_\theta\) standardised-consensus-gap

Correlation-adjusted method

Symbol Meaning
\(u_i\) The joint growth vector \((g_i, x_{C,i}, x_{M,i})^\top\)
\(\mu\) The joint mean, split into \(\mu_g\) for realised growth and \(\mu_S\) for the signals
\(\Sigma\) The joint covariance, split into blocks for \(g\) and the signals \(S=(C,M)\)