Equation 36 · Part 2 · Naive, Graph, and Agentic: A Systems Comparison of RAG Architectures

Symbol L_enc

L_{\text{total}} = L_{\text{enc}} + \sum_{i=1}^{k} \left( L_{\text{retrieve}}^{(i)} + L_{\text{LLM}}^{(i)} \right).

L_{\text{enc}}

What this part means

the writing.

Its job in the formula

$L_e$ nc is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.

Full expressionSymbol L_encArticle meaning

Where the article explains it

Writing $L_{\text{enc}}$ for query encoding, and $L_{\text{retrieve}}^{(i)}$ and $L_{\text{LLM}}^{(i)}$ for the retrieval and generation cost of round i , $L_{\text{total}} = L_{\text{enc}} + \sum_{i=1}^{k} \left( L_{\text{retrieve}}^{(i)} + L_{\text{LLM}}^{(i)} \right)$ .

The passage around this formula

A single latency model makes the difference between the first three rows and the last two concrete. Writing $L_{\text{enc}}$ for query encoding, and $L_{\text{retrieve}}^{(i)}$ and $L_{\text{LLM}}^{(i)}$ for the retrieval and generation cost of round i , $L_{\text{total}} = L_{\text{enc}} + \sum_{i=1}^{k} \left( L_{\text{retrieve}}^{(i)} + L_{\text{LLM}}^{(i)} \right)$ . For naive and hybrid RAG, k = 1 by construction — the sum has exactly one term, and total latency is boundable in advance for any query.…

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

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