FAILURE MAP
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FA-89386 / Instruction set emulation / Open access

Taken branch charged as not taken · case 01

Taken branches cost one cycle too few.

Verified by executionVariant 1 · 10 checks per implementationDownload source bundle ↓JSON ↗

ROOT CAUSE

The taken-branch base cycle count is the not-taken count.

THE FAILURE

The taken-branch base cycle count is the not-taken count.

Unsuccessful approach: Treating a zero displacement as not taken still undercounts that branch.

Case contract

Input [pc, disp, taken] for a 2-byte conditional branch at pc in a 16-bit address space. The next instruction is (pc+2) & 0xFFFF; disp is an 8-bit two's complement offset from that address. Not taken: [next, 2]. Taken: target = (next + offset) & 0xFFFF and cost 3 cycles plus 1 when target and next lie on different 256-byte pages. Return [pc', cycles].

Why this case matters

Branch emulation must use the post-fetch PC, sign-extend the offset and charge page-crossing cycles exactly.

1 / The failure

Exit 1
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json

N = 1
observations = []
def solve(*args):
    pc, disp, taken = args
    nxt = (pc + 2) & 0xFFFF
    if not taken:
        return [nxt, 2]
    off = disp - 256 if disp >= 128 else disp
    tgt = (nxt + off) & 0xFFFF
    cyc = 2 + (1 if (tgt & 0xFF00) != (nxt & 0xFF00) else 0)
    return [tgt, cyc]
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
fixtures = [[('forward branch same page', [4097, 16, True], [4115, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 239, True], [4209, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4337, 32, True], [4371, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 253, True], [16637, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20481, 64, False], [20483, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 129, True], [65413, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 126, True], [112, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24577, 0, True], [24579, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4098, 16, True], [4116, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 238, True], [4208, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4338, 32, True], [4372, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 252, True], [16636, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20482, 64, False], [20484, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 130, True], [65414, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 125, True], [111, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24578, 0, True], [24580, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4099, 16, True], [4117, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 237, True], [4207, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4339, 32, True], [4373, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 251, True], [16635, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20483, 64, False], [20485, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 131, True], [65415, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 124, True], [110, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24579, 0, True], [24581, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4100, 16, True], [4118, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 236, True], [4206, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4340, 32, True], [4374, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 250, True], [16634, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20484, 64, False], [20486, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 132, True], [65416, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 123, True], [109, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24580, 0, True], [24582, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4101, 16, True], [4119, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 235, True], [4205, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4341, 32, True], [4375, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 249, True], [16633, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20485, 64, False], [20487, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 133, True], [65417, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 122, True], [108, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24581, 0, True], [24583, 3])]]
for label, args, expected in fixtures[N-1]:
    check(label, solve(*args), expected)
print(json.dumps({"observations": observations, "passed": all(x["passed"] for x in observations)}, ensure_ascii=False))
raise SystemExit(0 if all(x["passed"] for x in observations) else 1)
Boundary fixtureActualExpectedOutcome
forward branch same page[4115, 2][4115, 3]Failed
backward branch[4209, 2][4209, 3]Failed
most negative displacement[8210, 2][8210, 3]Failed
largest positive displacement[12417, 2][12417, 3]Failed
forward page crossing[4371, 3][4371, 4]Failed
backward page crossing from next page start[16637, 3][16637, 4]Failed
branch not taken[20483, 2][20483, 2]Passed
wrap below zero[65413, 3][65413, 4]Failed
wrap above top[112, 3][112, 4]Failed
zero displacement taken[24579, 2][24579, 3]Failed

SHA-256 / c8b67f5bf507ad28d4514892c47b2381b36a65aaba5464341b049f1d469476a3

2 / The unsuccessful fix

Exit 1
"""Failure Map reference implementation. Python standard library only."""
import json

N = 1
observations = []
def solve(*args):
    pc, disp, taken = args
    nxt = (pc + 2) & 0xFFFF
    if not taken:
        return [nxt, 2]
    off = disp - 256 if disp >= 128 else disp
    tgt = (nxt + off) & 0xFFFF
    cyc = (3 if off else 2) + (1 if (tgt & 0xFF00) != (nxt & 0xFF00) else 0)
    return [tgt, cyc]
def check(label, actual, expected):
    observations.append({"check": label, "actual": actual, "expected": expected, "passed": actual == expected})
fixtures = [[('forward branch same page', [4097, 16, True], [4115, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 239, True], [4209, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4337, 32, True], [4371, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 253, True], [16637, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20481, 64, False], [20483, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 129, True], [65413, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 126, True], [112, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24577, 0, True], [24579, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4098, 16, True], [4116, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 238, True], [4208, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4338, 32, True], [4372, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 252, True], [16636, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20482, 64, False], [20484, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 130, True], [65414, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 125, True], [111, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24578, 0, True], [24580, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4099, 16, True], [4117, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 237, True], [4207, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4339, 32, True], [4373, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 251, True], [16635, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20483, 64, False], [20485, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 131, True], [65415, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 124, True], [110, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24579, 0, True], [24581, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4100, 16, True], [4118, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 236, True], [4206, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4340, 32, True], [4374, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 250, True], [16634, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20484, 64, False], [20486, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 132, True], [65416, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 123, True], [109, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24580, 0, True], [24582, 3])], [('forward branch same page', [4101, 16, True], [4119, 3]), ('backward branch', [4224, 235, True], [4205, 3]), ('most negative displacement', [8336, 128, True], [8210, 3]), ('largest positive displacement', [12288, 127, True], [12417, 3]), ('forward page crossing', [4341, 32, True], [4375, 4]), ('backward page crossing from next page start', [16638, 249, True], [16633, 4]), ('branch not taken', [20485, 64, False], [20487, 2]), ('wrap below zero', [2, 133, True], [65417, 4]), ('wrap above top', [65520, 122, True], [108, 4]), ('zero displacement taken', [24581, 0, True], [24583, 3])]]
for label, args, expected in fixtures[N-1]:
    check(label, solve(*args), expected)
print(json.dumps({"observations": observations, "passed": all(x["passed"] for x in observations)}, ensure_ascii=False))
raise SystemExit(0 if all(x["passed"] for x in observations) else 1)
Boundary fixtureActualExpectedOutcome
forward branch same page[4115, 3][4115, 3]Passed
backward branch[4209, 3][4209, 3]Passed
most negative displacement[8210, 3][8210, 3]Passed
largest positive displacement[12417, 3][12417, 3]Passed
forward page crossing[4371, 4][4371, 4]Passed
backward page crossing from next page start[16637, 4][16637, 4]Passed
branch not taken[20483, 2][20483, 2]Passed
wrap below zero[65413, 4][65413, 4]Passed
wrap above top[112, 4][112, 4]Passed
zero displacement taken[24579, 2][24579, 3]Failed

SHA-256 / 172c62d645471bea3475644b691409f31950d65977451f7fc9d1134784c92397

HELD IN THE MEMBER ARCHIVE

The verified repair and its recorded checks are member-only.

This mechanism has 10 recorded checks per implementation. The open-access tier publishes the failure and the unsuccessful fix; the repaired source that passes every check, and the observations that prove it, are available to members.

Every case sharing this mechanism uses the same contract and the same repair, so this one record is held back for all of them.

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Verification & scope

A deterministic bounded teaching model of one emulator rule; the instruction semantics are a stipulated contract inspired by common ISAs and are not a claim of cycle-exact or architectural conformance. This reproducer isolates one failure mechanism. Results cover the supplied fixtures. Variants within a family share a test contract and should remain grouped when constructing evaluation splits. Related mechanisms with a shared evaluation_group must also remain together; these controlled models are not independent production incidents.

Observations recorded using Python 3.12.14 at 2026-09-29T14:51:16.862168+00:00.

Case digest / fda86fead94aa003afb88defcc576ef3fec7d9324fc1dd30331d9d11de3677dc