Skip to content

Update unit 15 README.md to clarify retrieval options#1066

Merged
koreyspace merged 1 commit into
microsoft:mainfrom
mwarden:15-clarify-retrieval-search-options
Jan 12, 2026
Merged

Update unit 15 README.md to clarify retrieval options#1066
koreyspace merged 1 commit into
microsoft:mainfrom
mwarden:15-clarify-retrieval-search-options

Conversation

@mwarden
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

@mwarden mwarden commented Dec 21, 2025

The passage defines "semantic search" and "vector search" as separate options, then immediately describes vector search in a way that makes it the implementation of semantic search. Then it defines "hybrid" as combining keyword and vector, but if semantic and vector were truly distinct, hybrid should be keyword + semantic + vector (three things), not two.

The passage mixes two concepts: search purpose (lexical and semantic) and search implementation (keyword and vector).

The proposed edit resolves this and makes clear that vector search is the alternative to keywoard search (in this list of options), and the reason one might use vector search is to perform a search based on semantics. This also resolves the issue with the hybrid option, which previously made it seem like hybrid didn't support semantic search as an option.

The passage defines "semantic search" and "vector search" as separate options, then immediately describes vector search in a way that makes it the implementation of semantic search. Then it defines "hybrid" as combining keyword and vector, but if semantic and vector were truly distinct, hybrid should be keyword + semantic + vector (three things), not two.

The passage mixes two concepts: search purpose (lexical and semantic) and search implementation (keyword and vector).

The proposed edit resolves this and makes clear that vector search is the alternative to keywoard search (in this list of options), and the reason one might use vector search is to perform a search based on semantics. This also resolves the issue with the hybrid option, which previously made it seem like hybrid didn't support semantic search as an option.
@github-actions
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

👋 Thanks for contributing @mwarden! We will review the pull request and get back to you soon.

@koreyspace koreyspace merged commit 390856e into microsoft:main Jan 12, 2026
2 checks passed
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

3 participants