Input cost / hr — gp of consumed inputs per hour: supplies burned (potions, runes, seeds, ammo; per-hour + per-action inputs × rate). A flow, not a stock — independent of how long you plan to play. No buy-in = pure gathering.
Operating float (window) — the gp stock you must hold to keep the method running for your selected plan window: input cost/hr × window (30m / 1h / 2h / 4h / custom), times a buy-ahead multiplier when GE buy limits force pre-stocking. It is recycled, not lost. At the default 1h window (with no buy-ahead) it equals input cost/hr — pick a different window to see them diverge. Affordable compares it to your bankroll; the ≤250K low-float filter applies to the window value.
Pricing convention — GE inputs and outputs use the midpoint of the latest instant-buy/high and instant-sell/low prices. This keeps guide comparisons symmetric but is not guaranteed execution P&L: instant buying costs the high side, instant selling receives the low side, and taxable sales owe GE tax.
GE buy-ahead — an input needs more units per 4h GE window than its buy limit allows, so supplies must be stockpiled across ≥2 limit windows before starting. This raises the shown float by the buy-ahead multiplier; the binding item is named in the method detail.
ROI (operating) — profit/hr ÷ input cost/hr: return on the capital actually cycling through the method (gear is never in the denominator). Capital-heavy = a large float for a small return; a warning shows when the 1h float exceeds 10M with ROI < 0.5×.
Margin — profit ÷ revenue. Thin margin = a small price move can erase the profit (price-risk).
Required vs recommended skills — required comes from the wiki's structured levels. Recommended is parsed from the wiki's free-text notes and is often not stated; where absent it shows “—”. Never guessed.
Intensity — click/attention load (Low = AFK-friendly). Wilderness/PK — you can be attacked and lose supplies.
Stale price — at least one GE item had no live price; that method falls back to the wiki's last cached value.