Chip work and optical captures stay distinct but cross-checkable. Exact arithmetic here means exact results for the stated model inputs; measured inputs still carry uncertainty and significant-figure limits.
highlighted = computed this step
Well-cycles count chip work
The chip has 12 wells and 6 cycles, so it records 72 well-cycles.
Nwell-cycles=12⋅6=72
Well-cycles and captures are separate ledgers
The same record carries 72 well-cycles and 12 optical captures. They are counted separately before interpretation.