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What A Requirement List Admits

Fifty notes on what a list of requirements admits

Length

Equal length, unequal filter

Two lists of the same length can differ by a factor of two hundred and fifty-six.

Part three

8 notes in this part

The Widest List At Any Length

At every length the widest shape has the same form: as few compulsory items as possible and a threshold of none. What it looks like, and why it is so common.

Reference

The Narrowest List At Any Length

The narrowest shape at every length admits exactly one profile. Eighty-one shapes in this record do, and they are not all the same length.

Reference

Why The Ratio Stops Growing After Eight

The spread between the widest and narrowest list at a given length doubles up to eight items and then stops at two hundred and fifty-six. Why it flattens.

Reference

How Many Shapes Each Length Allows

Forty-five distinct filters can be built from eight lines. The count of shapes at each length, where it peaks, and what it says about reading a list.

Reference

Length As A Signal, And What It Is Worth

Length is the first thing a reader perceives about a list and nearly the last thing that decides what it admits. That gap is where the misreading happens.

Analysis

A Short List Can Be The Stricter One

Three compulsory items admit one profile in eight. Eight optional items requiring three admit two hundred and nineteen in two hundred and fifty-six.

Analysis

Writing A List To A Length

Lists get written to a target number of lines far more often than to a target selectivity. The arithmetic of what that produces, and the alternative.

Analysis