Definition
Ranking functions are mathematical algorithms and scoring mechanisms used to determine the relevance and priority of retrieved information chunks, ensuring the most contextually pertinent data is placed at the top of the LLM's prompt window. While initial retrieval fetches candidates, ranking functions (like BM25 or Cross-Encoders) refine the order to optimize for generation quality.
Focuses on the 'sorting' logic of retrieved results rather than the 'finding' logic of vector search.
"A diamond appraiser evaluating a handful of raw stones brought in by a miner to determine which are of high enough quality for the final jewelry piece."
- Cross-Encoder(Component)
- Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF)(Component)
- Bi-Encoder(Prerequisite)
- Top-k Retrieval(Constraint)
Conceptual Overview
Ranking functions are mathematical algorithms and scoring mechanisms used to determine the relevance and priority of retrieved information chunks, ensuring the most contextually pertinent data is placed at the top of the LLM's prompt window. While initial retrieval fetches candidates, ranking functions (like BM25 or Cross-Encoders) refine the order to optimize for generation quality.
Disambiguation
Focuses on the 'sorting' logic of retrieved results rather than the 'finding' logic of vector search.
Visual Analog
A diamond appraiser evaluating a handful of raw stones brought in by a miner to determine which are of high enough quality for the final jewelry piece.