Glossary · Optimization and failure dynamics
Falsification
The search for inputs and disturbances that make a system, or its evaluator, violate the specification: can it fail at all, and where? A found failure is evidence of existence, not of frequency.
Defined in
Handbook · Validity under pressureFalsification and failure regionsEstimation counts failures; falsification finds them. Search for the most likely breaks and map the region, not the anecdote.Related terms
- Failure region
- The set of inputs and conditions around a found failure that also fail, described by the features that define it. Mapping the region, not collecting anecdotes, turns one counterexample into evidence about risk.
- Adversary regime
- Who chooses the inputs a falsification search targets. Against nature (ordinary users), weight the search by plausibility; against a strategic adversary (jailbreakers, injectors), drop the weight, because the existence of a worst case is what matters.
Where it comes up
- Adaptive validityHandbook · Validity under pressure
- Notation and formula cardHandbook · Reference
- CrosswalkHandbook · Reference