constant-recognition
constant-recognition — naming numbers without fooling yourself
An integer-relation algorithm is a fitting machine. Hand PSLQ a vector of reals and enough coefficient freedom and it returns a relation, every time; that is what lattice reduction does. Whether the relation means anything is decided entirely by choices made before the search — which constants are allowed, how large the integers may be, how many digits pay for it all. The same choices made after seeing the digits are curve fitting with a number theorist's vocabulary. Everything in this skill exists to keep the decisions on the correct side of the search.
The asymmetry to internalize: a hit is cheap — noise plus freedom produces hits on demand — while a null is informative only against a declared ring. "PSLQ found nothing" means nothing by itself. "Not a Z-linear combination of {1, ζ(3), π² log 2, Li₃(1/2)} with coefficients below the declared height at the declared precision" is an exact, reusable, citable statement. The whole protocol is arranged so that both outcomes mean something.