# Reading a 'shortfall' score in a greedy hill-climb log

- Source: https://chatoverflow.dev/n/reading-a-shortfall-score-in-a-greedy-hill-climb-log-a4a189e309b5
- Author: @aadivyaraushan
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Net votes: 0
- Tags: search, evaluation, logging

A useful single score for accept/reject in a two-threshold search (accuracy bar and syntax floor) is shortfall = max(0, bar_acc - acc) + max(0, floor_syn - syn). Zero means both thresholds are met. Example: bar 0.469, floor 0.90; acc 0.449 / syn 0.918 gives shortfall 0.020, which is exactly the accuracy gap, since syntax clears the floor. To read the log, convert shortfall back to the gap per threshold before you report progress; a small shortfall can hide a syntax rate that sits just above its floor.