Practicals
Do a practical to back the theory.
One for every note, numbered to match. Most need only the AI tool you already use; some run right here. Grey ones arrive with their notes.
the teacher did it first. now you.
SAME QUESTION, FIVE TIMES
Section 1
What is actually happening when you type a question
01 The same half-sentence, five times · Note 01 02 A tokeniser you can type into · Note 02 03 One prompt, five runs, two temperatures · Note 03 04 Ask about last month, with and without search · Note 04 ?
Section 2
Why it can be confidently wrong
05 Five references on an obscure topic, then check them · Note 05 06 Two four-digit numbers: plain, show your working, code tool · Note 06 07 Ten facts, self-rated confidence, then verify · Note 07 08 State something wrong with authority; then ask neutrally · Note 08
Section 3
Context: the most important word nobody defines
09 A long conversation, then a question from the start · Note 09 10 Hide one fact at the top, middle and bottom of a long document · Note 10 11 The same question, the same model, two products · Note 11 12 Practical to be set with the note · Note 12
Section 4
Giving the model knowledge
13 Practical to be set with the note · Note 13 14 Similarity scores for look-alike and mean-alike pairs · Note 14 15 Practical to be set with the note · Note 15 16 Practical to be set with the note · Note 16
Section 5
Agents: what changes when the model can act
17 Practical to be set with the note · Note 17 18 A five-step task, run ten times · Note 18 19 An instruction hidden inside a document to be summarised · Note 19 20 Practical to be set with the note · Note 20 THINK ACT OBSERVE
Section 6
How do you know it's working?
21 Practical to be set with the note · Note 21 22 A twenty-question eval set across three models · Note 22 23 Practical to be set with the note · Note 23 24 The same prompt every month · Note 24
Section 7
The economics of a token
25 Practical to be set with the note · Note 25 26 The same question with reasoning on and off, timed · Note 26 27 One task on a small open model and a frontier model · Note 27 28 Practical to be set with the note · Note 28 TOKENS
Section 8
How the model got its manners
29 Practical to be set with the note · Note 29 30 Practical to be set with the note · Note 30 31 Practical to be set with the note · Note 31 32 The same question in English, Hindi and Gujarati · Note 32
Your results
If you run a practical, I would like to know what you found. Results from readers are credited in the notes they sharpen, and in the book. The easiest way to send them is a comment on the LinkedIn announcement of that note.