Why did Room B stop using its own number?

Kay and Jo give two rooms different heat loss rates, then link them to one shared parameter. The strip is below, and the steps to repeat it in Konjugate are under it.

Transcript

Four panels. Kay, a round teal character, and Jo, a dry blue one, are joined by a dotted line. Step 1, two rates. A card reads: heat loss rate 0.2 for room A and 0.05 for room B, both rooms starting at 20 with the outside at 0. Kay says: Two rooms. Two heat loss rates. Jo says: On purpose. A is fast, B is slow. Step 2, run it. A chart shows room A cooling quickly and room B cooling slowly, ending at 2.70 and 12.13 after 10 seconds. Kay says: B stays warm. As it should. Jo says: Now give them one shared rate. Step 3, share it. A card reads: one shared heat loss rate of 0.2, used by both relationships. Kay asks: What happened to B’s 0.05? Jo says: Not used. The shared value wins. Step 4, run again. A card reads: after 10 seconds both rooms are at 2.70 degrees, where room B alone was 12.13. Kay says: Same answer. Jo says: One number, one result. By design.

Image for sharing

What just happened

Two rooms lose heat to the outside through separate relationships, each with its own heat loss rate: 0.2 for Room A and 0.05 for Room B. Run on their own for 10 seconds, Room A ends at 2.70129 and Room B at 12.1291. Then both relationships were linked to one shared parameter, taking Room A's value of 0.2. Room B's 0.05 is no longer used, and both rooms end at 2.70129.

Nothing in Room B's relationship had to change. A shared parameter is one value that several relationships read, so changing it once changes every place that uses it.

Repeat it in Konjugate

1. Build three nodes, Room A, Room B and Outside, and two relationships from Outside, each with a Heat loss rate parameter (loss) in the equation loss \cdot (source.temperature − target.temperature). Give A the value 0.2 and B the value 0.05.

2. Open Room A's relationship and turn its parameter into a new shared parameter.

3. Open Room B's relationship and link its parameter to the shared one.

4. Check the Parameters table, then run for 10 seconds.

What this does and does not say

The model is invented and small, and the figures were read from the runs described above on 2026-10-16. The point is the mechanism: linking relationships to one parameter makes them agree, and the value that was there before is dropped, not averaged. Link only parameters that really are the same quantity. Two rooms with different insulation should keep different rates.

Go deeper

• "Sharing one parameter across relationships" covers linking, live control, fitting, schedules and giving a row its own value again with Not shared.