Re-verify the 368 stride with a control matched to its data

The sky autocorrelation turned out to be inflated by a control that did not
match the data, so the 368 result was re-checked the same way rather than
being left on the evidence I now know to be weak.

Range measured: each level's post-shrub region start, first 65536 bytes.

Method: as before, but the control is the same bytes shuffled rather than
uniform random. Shuffling preserves the value distribution and destroys only
the ordering, which is what a control for this statistic needs to do.

Level 0's region is evenly distributed -- 256 distinct byte values, most
common only 15.6% -- so uniform random was the appropriate control here, and
the shuffled control independently confirms it, reading 0.0000 at strides 340,
368 and 4 against the real data's 0.1110 at 368.

Recomputed across all levels with matched controls: 24 of 24 peak at exactly
368, every one with excess above 0.05.

So the 368 period stands, now with a control appropriate to its data. The
contrast is the useful part: the same statistic, asked the same question of
two regions, gave a real answer in one and an inflated one in the other, and
the only thing that separated them was whether the control matched the byte
distribution.
This commit is contained in:
2026-10-11 03:34:24 +02:00
parent 462d0eda5a
commit 98c0d1ab3c
+27
View File
@@ -292,3 +292,30 @@ do not: an earlier "256x236" is wrong and should not be used.
So the sky region is not one thing. Its first ~60 KB is an image; the rest is
whatever the layer offsets address. Both halves still need work, and the
image is the tractable one.
## Re-verified: the 368 stride, against a matched control
The sky autocorrelation was found to be inflated by a control that did not
match the data, so the 368 result was re-checked the same way.
**Range measured:** each level's post-shrub region start, first 65,536 bytes.
**Method:** as before, but the control is the same bytes shuffled rather than
uniform random bytes. Shuffling preserves the value distribution and destroys
only the ordering, which is exactly what the control needs to do.
**Result:**
- Level 0's region is evenly distributed: 256 distinct byte values, most
common only 15.6%. Uniform random was therefore the *appropriate* control
here, and the shuffled control independently confirms it, reading **0.0000**
at strides 340, 368 and 4.
- Level 0 peak remains 368 at 0.1110, against 0.0000 for the matched control.
- Recomputed across all levels with matched controls: **24 of 24 peak at
exactly 368, every one with excess above 0.05.**
So the 368-byte period stands, now with a control appropriate to its data.
The contrast with sky is the point: the same statistic on the same kind of
question gave a real answer in one region and an inflated one in the other,
and the only thing that told them apart was whether the control matched the
byte distribution.