Pulse Documentation

name: op-agg-ci-upper
description: Upper bound of the confidence interval for the mean.
kind: operator
category: AGG
operator: AGG_CI_UPPER
type: reference
applies_to: process, compose, predict
examples_tags: [hypothesis-test, streaming-friendly]

Use when

Upper end of a confidence interval for the mean of a numeric field, showing how precisely the average is pinned down.

Questions it answers:

• What is the highest average wait time the data are consistent with at 95% confidence?
• How wide is the uncertainty around each region’s mean score?

Use something else:

• AGG_CI_LOWER when you want the lower end of the same interval.

Params

Bound = mean ∓ z·√(s²/n), z = qnorm(1 − α/2). Weight (both kinds; "weight": null opts out): weighted mean, s² on w* = w·N*/Σw, stderr √(s²/N*), N* = Σw (frequency) or Kish n_eff (probability); same z. Invalid weights excluded and warned.

Inputs

Output

Scalar float64 — upper CI bound. NaN when n < 2 (weighted: N* ≤ 1; null in JSON).

Reading the output

• value: The upper end of a confidence interval for the group’s mean at the requested confidence (95% by default): mean + z * standard error, where the standard error is the sample standard deviation (dividing by n - 1) over sqrt(n).
  • Caveat: The interval is about the MEAN, not about individual rows: most rows can, and usually do, fall outside it.
  • Caveat: The confidence level describes the method: over repeated samples, intervals built this way capture the true mean that share of the time. Any one interval either contains it or not.

Components

Weighted: floor adds sum_weights, n_eff (probability), n_weight_invalid.

Universal floor {n, n_null} plus operator-specific:

• Mergeability: Mergeable
• Streaming: per-chunk Welford

Gotchas

• Normal z, not t: small samples get narrower intervals than t.
• n < 2 (weighted N* ≤ 1) → NaN.
• "bootstrap" method returns PROCESSING_CONFIG until the buffered follow-up lands.

See

• pulse_examples_search tags=[hypothesis-test]
• Skills: aggregation-design, statistical-testing, response-components