Core Concepts

This page explains the foundational ideas behind hyperdimensional computing and Vector Symbolic Architectures.

Why High Dimensions?

In high-dimensional spaces (~1,000-10,000 dimensions), random vectors are almost always nearly orthogonal. This creates a vast representational space where:

• 10,000 dimensions can store ~1,000 distinct items with high reliability
• Adding noise barely affects retrieval
• Patterns emerge from algebraic operations, not learned weights

The Orthogonality Property

In d dimensions, two random unit vectors have expected cosine similarity:

$$E[\cos(\theta)] \approx 0$$

with standard deviation:

$$\sigma \approx \frac{1}{\sqrt{d}}$$

For d = 10,000, random vectors have similarity within ±0.01 of zero—effectively orthogonal.

Three Core Operations

All VSA models implement three fundamental operations:

Operation	Input	Output	Property
Bind	A, B	A ⊗ B	Dissimilar to both
Bundle	A, B	A + B	Similar to both
Permute	A	ρ(A)	Shifted, dissimilar to A

Binding (⊗)

Creates an association between two vectors.

Property	Description
Result	Dissimilar to both inputs
Purpose	Key-value pairs, associations
Inverse	Unbinding recovers operand

c = model.bind(a, b)      # c ≈ a ⊗ b
a = model.unbind(c, b)    # Recover a

The binding operation varies by model:

• FHRR: Element-wise complex multiplication
• MAP: Element-wise real multiplication
• HRR: Circular convolution
• BSC: XOR

Bundling (+)

Combines multiple vectors into a superposition.

Property	Description
Result	Similar to all inputs
Purpose	Sets, prototypes, averaging
Inverse	None (information-preserving mix)

combined = model.bundle([a, b, c])
# combined is similar to a, b, and c

Bundling is typically element-wise addition followed by normalization. Each component contributes equally to the result.

Permutation (ρ)

Shifts vector coordinates to encode order.

Property	Description
Result	Dissimilar to input
Purpose	Positions, sequences
Inverse	Unpermute reverses shift

a_pos1 = model.permute(a, k=1)
a_pos2 = model.permute(a, k=2)
# a_pos1 ≠ a_pos2 ≠ a (all dissimilar)

Composing Operations

The power of VSA comes from combining operations to build complex structures.

Example: Encoding a Sequence

Encode the sequence [A, B, C]:

# Method 1: Position binding
seq = model.bundle([
    model.bind(pos_0, A),
    model.bind(pos_1, B),
    model.bind(pos_2, C)
])

# Method 2: Permutation
seq = model.bundle([
    A,
    model.permute(B, k=1),
    model.permute(C, k=2)
])

Example: Encoding a Record

Encode {name: "Alice", age: 30}:

# Role-filler binding
record = model.bundle([
    model.bind(ROLE_name, vec_alice),
    model.bind(ROLE_age, vec_30)
])

# Query: what is the name?
result = model.unbind(record, ROLE_name)
# result ≈ vec_alice

Capacity and Noise

Bundle Capacity

The number of items that can be bundled while maintaining reliable retrieval:

$$n_{max} \approx \frac{d}{2 \ln(d)}$$

For d = 10,000: ~500 items per bundle.

Binding Depth

Nested bindings reduce similarity during recovery. For FHRR (exact inverse):

• Single binding: 100% recovery
• Nested bindings: Still 100% recovery

For approximate models (HRR, VTB):

• Single binding: ~70% recovery
• Nested bindings: Progressive degradation

Noise Tolerance

HDC representations degrade gracefully:

Noise Level	Expected Similarity
0%	1.0
10%	~0.90
30%	~0.70
50%	~0.50

Mental Model

Think of hypervectors as:

• Points in a vast space where almost every random point is equally far from every other
• Holographic — each dimension carries partial information about the whole
• Algebraic — operations have well-defined properties (commutativity, associativity, distributivity)

Key Differences from Neural Networks

Aspect	Neural Networks	VSA/HDC
Learning	Gradient descent	One-shot encoding
Representation	Learned embeddings	Algebraic composition
Interpretability	Black-box activations	Transparent operations
Training data	Large datasets	No training required
Noise handling	Overfitting risk	Built-in tolerance

Further Reading

• Backends — Computational infrastructure
• Spaces — Vector types and similarity
• Models — Specific VSA implementations
• References — Academic papers