DETERMINISM PYRAMID

A hierarchy of computational assurance, from fixed-point contract law to confabulating generative models

A Hierarchy of Computational Needs

The Determinism Pyramid

Seven tiers of compute — from confabulation to contract law.

▲ Determinism · Criticality

▼ Volume · Error tolerance

Auditability ▲

Capability surface ▼

Fixed-Point & BCD ArithmeticMainframes · Financial Ledgers · Settlement SystemsInteger & Cryptographic ComputationHash Functions · Consensus · Digital Logic · PKIRule-Based & Symbolic SystemsBusiness Rules Engines · Expert Systems · SQL · Decision TablesIEEE 754 Numerical ComputingFEA · CFD · Reservoir Simulation · Scientific HPCProbabilistic & Statistical ComputationMonte Carlo · Bayesian Inference · Kalman FiltersDeterministic DNN InferenceCNNs · Object Detection · Anomaly DetectionNon-Deterministic Generative AILLMs · Diffusion Models · Agents
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Select a tier on the left to inspect its properties, costs, use cases, and failure modes.

Computational Assurance Matrix

Four axes that distinguish tiers — what a single “determinism” score would flatten.

Reproducibility

Can you get the same answer twice?

Error Characterization

Can you bound how wrong the answer might be?

Auditability

Can you explain why you got that answer?

Well-Posedness

Does the answer space have a 'correct' value?

TierReproducibilityError CharacterizationAuditabilityWell-Posedness
Fixed-Point / BCD
100%Definitive
100%Definitive
100%Definitive
100%Definitive
Integer / Cryptography
100%Definitive
100%Definitive
95%Definitive
90%Strong
Rule-Based / Symbolic
100%Definitive
85%Strong
100%Definitive
75%Moderate
IEEE 754 / HPC
50%Partial
80%Moderate
85%Strong
95%Definitive
Probabilistic / MCMC
40%Weak
95%Definitive
75%Moderate
85%Strong
DNN Inference
60%Partial
20%Minimal
15%Minimal
80%Moderate
Generative AI / LLMs
5%Absent
5%Absent
10%Minimal
25%Minimal

Hover a cell in the matrix to see how that tier behaves on a specific assurance axis.

© 2025 Wesley Ladd. All rights reserved.

Last updated: 3/9/2026