A graph's connectivity can be encoded as an incidence matrix whose null space reveals that node potentials are only meaningful up to an additive constant.
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Building the incidence matrix from a graph
Write the rule placing at the node each edge leaves and at the node it enters, build the example, and count its nonzeros.
as the vector of potential differences
Multiply by the node potentials and write out all five components , , , , .
The null space spanned by
Solve , show the solutions are exactly the constant vectors , and record the physical reading that potentials are fixed only up to an additive constant.
Grounding a node and rank
State that setting one node's potential to zero deletes a column and leaves three independent columns, and record .