estimate-effective-evidence-count

Purpose

Estimate independent evidence count after discounting dependence and correlation.

Input contract

required: [evidence_paths, dependence_structure]
optional: [correlation_estimates, nominal_count]
constraints: [dependence assumptions and uncertainty must be explicit]

Procedure

1. Count nominal paths and trace shared dependencies.
2. Assign dependence classes or correlations.
3. Estimate N_eff and sensitivity to dependence assumptions.

Output contract

produces: [nominal_count, dependence_map, effective_count, sensitivity_range]
delta_fields: [findings, evidence_updates, uncertainties, decisions]

Quality gates