PROVENANCE.md

Withdrawn Dataset History

The current evidence inventory is provenance.yml. This file records retired material so the removal of unsupported numbers is not confused with validation of their earlier claims.

On 10 October 2026, the release cleanup removed:

• ch1_data.csv through ch12_data.csv and plot_ch1.png through plot_ch12.png. Their plotting script had already been disabled because it used unsourced or invented values. Some files described illustrative models, but the collection had no retained measurement generator or independently checkable row-level provenance. No active chapter read these files at removal.
• The disabled plot_all_wishlist.py generator.
• chapter1-github-software-hardware-divide.csv and chapter1_empirical_data_gap_and_funnel.csv. These obsolete Chapter 1 datasets were not active manuscript inputs; current source-backed figures use separate records rather than the former generalized hardware-quality funnel.
• chapter9-interconnect-logca-specs.csv, removed with the Chapter 2 numerical LogCA figure. It combined nominal specification bandwidths with explicitly author-chosen invocation overheads. It was an analytical illustration, not a measured table of offload thresholds. The book retains the mathematical relationship without presenting these assumed implementation values as data.

Git history retains these files and the prior audit record. Their removal does not make the earlier magnitudes defensible. Reintroducing a numerical claim requires a retained execution result or an attributable source supporting that specific value and scope.

The September 2026 withdrawal of earlier website studies and their narrower replacements is described in the study inventory.