```
ID: f-p8-decay-period
Type: f

H6. The rate is a schedule rather than an attenuation, and there is no decay at all.

THE RULE. A pattern of support s is applied only on the time steps whose step number is a multiple
of 2^(smax - s), so the best-supported pattern in the model fires on every step, one at half that
support on every second step, and so on. What an application delivers is unchanged; how often it
happens is the axis. This is the alternative that takes the word "rate" at face value.

THE PREDICTION IT MAKES AND THE OTHERS DO NOT: a window runs W = 128 time steps, so a pattern whose
period exceeds W NEVER FIRES INSIDE A WINDOW. The periods are 2^(smax - s_p): 1, 2 or 4 at e64;
reaching 64 at e1k; reaching 512 at e10k, where a support-0 pattern never fires at all, which at
that sample is 169 of the 256 bytes. Whether that is right for weak evidence or a defect is what the
generation is for.

IT BUYS NO WORK, and the alternative would otherwise be read as carrying a fix it does not carry.
The three vectors are computed, and settle_apps counted, BEFORE the period decides whether to apply
them, so a skipped application costs exactly what a taken one costs, while #f-p8's derivation says
applying a pattern always costs energy. settle_apps here measures work done, not work saved.

Deterministic, and with the same note as #f-p8-decay-deficit on smax and on where support comes from.

HISTORY.
Generation 5, A5's idea (#f-p8-period) restated on the cap-8 delivery. A5 fired its schedule on
applications delivered at the absolute 255; this fires the same schedule on applications capped at
8, so for the first time the rate is varied with the strength held still.

Generation 5 tried to move the gate decision ahead of the vector computation and BACKED IT OUT:
deciding the gates first requires restructuring the position loop, the generated settling then
stopped honouring the frozen shell's clamping (every one of the 64 positions at e64 diverged from
the reference, including recorded positions that must never be updated), and the shell is frozen for
good reasons.

LATER.
Realising the saving is an open item against the settling shell, not against this block.
```