Ordinal Partition

Transition predictability, time irreversibility, edge-of-chaos complexity
dynamicalencoding-invariantdim symbolic6 metrics

What It Measures

The grammar of ups and downs.

Ignores the actual values entirely and looks only at their rank order. In a window of 5 consecutive values, there are 120 possible orderings (permutations). Which orderings appear? Which transitions between orderings are allowed? This is the most purely encoding-invariant geometry in the framework.

Metrics

transition_entropy

How predictable is the next rank pattern given the current one? Wind speed, BTC range, and Poisson spacings max out at 1.0 (any pattern can follow any other). Logistic period-4 scores 0.0 (each pattern has exactly one successor). Chaos lives in between: logistic r=3.9 scores 0.82.

forbidden_transitions

What fraction of theoretically possible pattern transitions never occur? Square wave and Morse code score 0.88 (only 12% of transitions are allowed — the signal's grammar is highly constrained). White noise and prime gaps score 0.0 (all transitions observed). Deterministic chaos forbids specific transitions that noise allows — this is a zero-training chaos detector.

time_irreversibility

Does the signal look different played backwards? Phyllotaxis scores 1.0 (strongly irreversible — the golden-angle rotation has a definite direction). Stern-Brocot walk scores 0.008 (nearly reversible). Financial returns, being famously irreversible (crashes are fast, recoveries are slow), score 0.3-0.5.

statistical_complexity

The sweet spot between order and disorder. Peaks at the edge of chaos. L-System Dragon Curve (0.104) and logistic r=3.9 (0.102) are the most complex signals in the atlas. Both constants and perfect noise score 0.0 — neither is complex, for opposite reasons.

memory_order

Does the signal have hidden higher-order dependencies? Stern-Brocot walk scores highest (1.08): its next value depends on the last two values, not just the last one. This detects Markov order that transition_entropy misses.

Atlas Rankings

forbidden_transitions
SourceDomainValue
Square Wavewaveform0.8800
Pulse-Width Modulationwaveform0.8800
Morse Codewaveform0.8800
···
Prime Gapsnumber_theory0.0000
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
markov_mixing
SourceDomainValue
L-System (Dragon Curve)exotic0.9999
Neural Net (Pruned 90%)binary0.9946
Rule 30exotic0.9919
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Logistic r=3.5 (Period-4)chaos0.0000
memory_order
SourceDomainValue
Stern-Brocot Walknumber_theory1.0776
Arnold Cat Mapchaos0.7521
Fibonacci Quasicrystalnumber_theory0.5888
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Logistic r=3.5 (Period-4)chaos0.0000
statistical_complexity
SourceDomainValue
L-System (Dragon Curve)exotic0.1037
Logistic r=3.9 (Near-Full Chaos)chaos0.1023
Noisy Period-2chaos0.1021
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Pi Digitsnumber_theory0.0003
time_irreversibility
SourceDomainValue
Wigner Semicirclequantum1.0000
Phyllotaxisbio1.0000
Forest Fireexotic1.0000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Stern-Brocot Walknumber_theory0.0084
transition_entropy
SourceDomainValue
Wind Speedclimate1.0000
BTC Rangefinancial1.0000
Poisson Spacingsquantum1.0000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Logistic r=3.5 (Period-4)chaos0.0000

When It Lights Up

Ordinal Partition's forbidden_transitions is the primary separator between deterministic and stochastic sources in the atlas. Combined with transition_entropy, it places every signal on a 2D map from "fully constrained" (periodic) through "partially constrained" (chaos) to "unconstrained" (noise) — without any training data or parameter tuning.

Open in Atlas
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