is then added to account for factors not considered above. This is called the higher level correction (HC) and is given by -0.00481 x (number of valence electrons) -0.00019 x (number of unpaired valence electrons). The two numbers are obtained calibrating the results against the experimental results for a set of molecules. The scaled ZPVE and the HLC are added to give the final energy. For some molecules containing one of the third row elements Ga–Xe, a further term is added to account for spin orbit coupling. Several variants of this procedure have been used. Removing steps 3 and 4 and relying only on the MP2 result from step 5 is significantly cheaper and only slightly less accurate. This is the G2MP2 method. Sometimes the geometry is obtained using a density functional theory method such as B3LYP and sometimes the QCISD(T) method in step 2 is replaced by the coupled cluster method CCSD(T). The G2(+) variant, where the "+" symbol refers to added diffuse functions, better describes anions than conventional G2 theory. The 6-31+G(d) basis set is used in place of the 6-31G(d) basis set for both the initial geometry optimization, as well as the second geometry optimization and frequency calculation. Additionally, the frozen-core approximation is made for the initial MP2 optimization, whereas G2 usually uses the full calculation. Gaussian-3 (G3) The G3 is very similar to G2 but learns from the experience with G2 theory. The 6-311G basis set is replaced by the smaller 6-31G basis. The final MP2 calculations use a larger basis set, generally just called G3large, and correlating all the electrons not just the valence electrons as in G2 theory, additionally a spin-orbit correction term and an empirical correction for valence electrons are introduced. This gives some core correlation contributions to the final energy. The HLC takes the same form but with different empirical parameters. Gaussian-4 (G4) G4 is a compound method in spirit of the other Gaussian theories and attempts to take the accuracy achieved with G3X one small step further. This involves the introduction of an extrapolation scheme for obtaining basis set limit Hartree-Fock energies, the use of geometries and thermochemical corrections calculated at B3LYP/6-31G(2df,p) level, a highest-level single point calculation at CCSD(T) instead of QCISD(T) level, and addition of extra polarization functions in the largest-basis set MP2 calculations. Thus, Gaussian 4 (G4) theory is an approach for the calculation of energies of molecular