Explain the paths in the association network

We can analyze use of paths in the association network as given below:

• Calculate each operation
• Find associations which it must pass through to get information. Associations could be bi-directional (generally by more than one operation) or unidirectional which can be implemented as pointers.

  For each and every operation, we must know the followings:

• How frequently is operation needed and how much will it cost?
• What is fan-out along a path through network? To find fan-out of complete path, multiply average count of each "many" associations found in path with individual fan-outs.
• What are the objects which satisfy selection criteria (if specified) and are operated on? When most of objects are rejected during traversal for some reason, then a simple nested loop can be inefficient at finding target objects.