Introduction to Electrodynamics
David J. Griffiths
Adjacent Possible In Electrodynamics
Overview
Rankings
Distribution
Network
Graph Measures
Adjacent Possible
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Description Length (bits)
Without vocabulary With vocabulary Without current concept Compression savings

Top 15 Concepts by ΔL

The concepts whose removal costs the most. Electric field dominates — removing it forces 173 downstream concepts to inline its 164-token definition.

ΔL vs Fan-out

ΔL = (definition length - 1) × fan-out. Concepts in the upper-right are both long-defined and widely referenced — the true load-bearers.

Full ΔL Rankings

Every concept ranked by its compression contribution. Click column headers to sort. Leaves (ΔL = 0) sit at the bottom — removing them costs nothing.
Rank Concept ΔL Trans ΔL MDL Gain % Total L Fan-out Def Length Transitive Page Definition

ΔL Distribution (Log-Log)

Cumulative Share of Total ΔL

Starting from the highest-ΔL concept, how quickly do we accumulate the total compression load? A steep initial rise means compression is concentrated in a few hubs.

ΔL Histogram

The distribution of ΔL values across all concepts. Note the extreme right skew — most concepts have small ΔL, a few have enormous ΔL.

Lorenz Curve (Compression Inequality)

Dependency Network

Top concepts by ΔL shown as a force-directed graph. Node size encodes ΔL, color encodes fan-out. Directed edges: arrow from B → A means A appears in B's definition (B depends on A). Hover for details.
Drag to rearrange. Scroll to zoom. Click node to highlight neighborhood. ● upstream ● downstream

Graph Structure at a Glance

These measures characterize the topology of the concept dependency graph. Each measure is selected because it directly informs our research question: is physics knowledge organized as a compression hierarchy?

Out-Degree Distribution (prerequisites)

How many prerequisites does each concept depend on (outgoing edges)? Concepts with high out-degree are complex composites that synthesize many prior ideas. The distribution shape tells us whether complexity is distributed evenly or concentrated.

In-Degree Distribution (fan-in / depended-on)

How many downstream concepts depend on each concept (incoming edges)? High in-degree concepts are hubs — the building blocks reused everywhere. A heavy-tailed in-degree distribution is a structural prerequisite for heavy-tailed ΔL.

Depth Distribution

How deep is the compression hierarchy? Depth 0 = foundational concepts with no dependencies. Deeper concepts build on more layers of abstraction. The distribution width indicates whether the graph is flat (all concepts near the surface) or deep (long dependency chains).

PageRank vs ΔL

PageRank measures structural centrality (how many important concepts point to you). ΔL measures compression load (how costly your removal is). When these diverge, it reveals concepts that are structurally central but easily substitutable, or vice versa.

Circular Dependencies (Cycles)

Naming Quadrants (ℓ vs N)

Sleeping Giants (high ℓ, low N)   Pillars (high ℓ, high N)   Lightweight Hubs (low ℓ, high N)   Leaves

Top 30 Sleeping Giants (ℓ/N)

Highest definition-length-to-fan-out ratio. Under-utilized abstractions — candidates for future importance.