Tagged “graph-index”
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How graph indexes search
Greedy traversal over a proximity graph, why it gets stuck in local minima, and how layers and connectivity fix it — the mechanism behind HNSW.
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How a filter fights the index
A metadata predicate isn't a cheap extra condition — it breaks the assumption each index family is built on. Why graphs strand and cluster scans shrug.
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What the layers in a hierarchical graph buy
A flat proximity graph already navigates. Why stacking sparse layers on top changes the hop count, and where the skip-list analogy breaks down.
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The neighbour list you want isn't the nearest one
Connecting each vector to its k closest neighbours builds a graph that traps every search. Why diversified pruning is the fix, and what it approximates.