Candy/Sugar Syrup Stage Reference mechanism

Model scope

The stated algorithm is directionally consistent with a common cooking shortcut, but the instrument cannot receive a PASS until the authoritative table, endpoint behavior, elevation units, out-of-range behavior, and interpretation of altitude adjustment are specified. The honest label should state that results are approximate culinary stage guidance, not a precise measurement of syrup solids concentration.

• The altitude correction of 1°F per 500 ft is a common culinary approximation, but it is not an exact boiling-point or syrup-concentration correction and should be labeled approximate.
• The specification does not provide the actual candy-stage table, so the stage boundaries cannot be uniquely verified. This validation uses widely tabulated rounded ranges: soft-ball 235–240°F and hard-crack 300–310°F.
• The specification does not state whether range endpoints are inclusive. The test vectors assume inclusive endpoints.
• The specification does not define behavior for temperatures in gaps between commonly tabulated stages, such as 241–243°F, or for temperatures below/above the table.
• The specification does not explicitly state whether the measured temperature is compared with the altitude-adjusted range or whether the measured value itself is adjusted. The vectors assume the target range is adjusted and the measured temperature is compared directly with it.

Units and conventions

• Measured syrup temperature is in degrees Fahrenheit.
• Elevation is normally expected in feet above sea level; the fourth vector demonstrates conversion from meters using 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly.
• Altitude correction is computed as elevation_ft ÷ 500, with the resulting correction in °F and no rounding unless specified otherwise.
• Sea-level target ranges are shifted downward by the altitude correction: adjusted_min = sea_level_min − elevation_ft/500 and adjusted_max = sea_level_max − elevation_ft/500.
• Stage-range endpoints are treated as inclusive.

Inspectable vector

One of 4 source-bound review vectors:

{
  "inputs": {
    "measured_temperature_F": 240,
    "elevation_ft": 0
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "stage": "soft-ball",
    "target_temp_range_F": {
      "min": 235,
      "max": 240
    }
  },
  "reference_data": {
    "soft_ball_sea_level_range_F": {
      "min": 235,
      "max": 240
    },
    "source_convention": "Widely tabulated standard culinary candy-stage value; rounded °F range"
  },
  "working": "1. Altitude correction = 0 ft ÷ 500 ft/°F = 0°F.\n2. Adjusted soft-ball minimum = 235°F − 0°F = 235°F.\n3. Adjusted soft-ball maximum = 240°F − 0°F = 240°F.\n4. Measured temperature = 240°F, which equals the inclusive upper boundary.\n5. Result: soft-ball, target range 235–240°F."
}

Failure boundary

BREAK_CLAIMED · SELF_FLAGGED

An extreme but numerically valid elevation produces negative target temperatures, while the specification provides no input validation, altitude validity limit, clamping behavior, or defined result for that case. The abbreviated data table also leaves intermediate temperatures such as 241-244°F unspecified.

Other records

Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

• VERIFIED_LEDGER.json
• evidence-tranche7/tranche7-results.json
• BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json