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Equation 24 · Part 2 · Naive, Graph, and Agentic: A Systems Comparison of RAG Architectures

subscript

CindexC_{\text{index}}
subscript

What this part means

The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.

Its job in the formula

A subscript distinguishes a version, component, step, or member of a quantity. It does not automatically mean multiplication.

The passage around this formula

CindexC_{\text{index}} is also the family’s most visible weakness, and the project’s own subsequent work treats it as one worth solving rather than downplaying, which is worth reading as a vendor’s own admission of the problem’s severity. Microsoft’s follow-up post introducing LazyGraphRAG reports — as a vendor claim about the vendor’s own systems, not an independently audited benchmark — that the original approach’s indexing cost was steep enough to motivate a redesign, and states that LazyGraphRAG’s indexing cost is on par with plain vector-based RAG and roughly one part in a thousand of full GraphRAG’s, while its global-search query cost is reported as roughly seven hundred times lower than the…

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Learn the underlying idea

A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.

Open the illustrated subscripts: which member of a family? guide →

Sources cited in the surrounding passage

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.