Equation 3 · Part 1 · How Claude Code's Memory Actually Persists Across Sessions
Symbol i
What this part means
i is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
Its job in the formula
i is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
Full expression→Symbol i→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
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.
Learn the underlying idea
A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.
Open the illustrated variables: a letter stands for a value guide →
See this notation across published equations →
Sources cited in the article section
These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.