Equation 2 · How Claude Code's Memory Actually Persists Across Sessions
What does this equation mean?
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the token count of the i -th memory file discovered along the walk from the filesystem root to the working directory, summed over however many, k , are found. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.
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Symbol M_i
the token count of the i -th memory file discovered along the walk from the filesystem root to the working directory, summed over however many, k , are found.
subscript
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.
How to interpret it
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What the article says around this equation
where is the token count of the i -th memory file discovered along the walk from the filesystem root to the working directory, summed over however many, k , are found. Every term is committed before the developer types a word. The point is not the specific numbers; it is that is arithmetic settled at launch, and every additional CLAUDE.md file anyone commits to a repository is a term someone chose to add to it, permanently, for the rest of that session.
Sources cited in the article section
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