Lesson 136: Cost models for QPUs
Focus
Separate statistical noise from calibration drift before claiming algorithm wins. Token Cost models for QPUs:136 keeps neighbouring lessons differentiable.
Key ideas
- Thread: Cost models for QPUs · drill v6 · spin
23128. - Habit: pair each job with shot budget, mitigation profile, and a calibration fingerprint you could paste.
- Guardrail: write one line about where classical cost dominated the timeline.
Deep dive notebook
Synthetic drill artefacts
Transpilation checklist
- [ ] basis translation logged for `rz-sx vs native`
- [ ] SWAP count vs manual estimate delta noted
- [ ] layout seed `S-2547`
Rollback triggers: CX depth > THRESH-188 OR queue SLA breach without mitigation flip.
Practice
Practice Simulate degraded calibration once; screenshot how you surface it to operators. — 136 Bump literals mindset by 37.