`converge` refuses to report a NaN fit. Nothing stopped a caller from
ignoring that error and predicting anyway, and every prediction path was
differently wrong when they did. Measured on a point-mass-prior history
with `beta(0.0)`, after `converge` returned `NonFiniteResult`:
predict_quality = Ok(NaN)
predict_outcome().total() = NaN
predict_win_probabilities = Ok([0.0, 0.0])
The third is the dangerous one: finite, plausible, and summing to zero
against a doc that promises one at `p_draw == 0`. A caller checking
`total() ≈ 1` catches the second and misses it.
The same parameters on a *scored* event converge cleanly and leave
legitimate point-mass posteriors. There `predict_quality` **panicked** —
"cannot invert a singular matrix", out of a method returning `Result` —
because the contrast covariance `beta²AᵀA + AᵀSA` is exactly singular,
and `predict_win_probabilities` again returned `Ok([0.0, 0.0])`. That
promise assumes continuous performances, where an exact tie has measure
zero; point masses break the assumption, not the arithmetic.
Both checks now live at `member_skills`, the one gate every prediction
path reads skills through, rather than being repeated per method.
The finiteness check is on `mu` / `sigma`, not on the natural parameters.
The first attempt checked `pi` and `tau`, and measurement showed it
rejected a *legitimate* point mass — `pi = inf`, `mu = 0`, `sigma = 0` —
turning a working prediction into an error. The question is whether the
usable moments exist, and those are what predictions consume.
Docs: `converge_partial` omitted the drift-variance `InvalidParameter` it
validates before sweeping, and the free `expected_information_gain`
omitted `GridTooCoarse`, which comes from `outcome_distribution` and so
is not covered by its "anything `Game::ranked` returns" clause.
Refs #78 (parts 1 and 2; the layering and `predict_quality` rename
questions are still open).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011hcFjNDmHXZF8URGLku5zZ
logaritmiskandClaude Opus 5
9d3e002be3