When you first start working with equations, you will probably use the names of the parent nodes in your equations. However, sometimes you will want a more local representation, so that you can disconnect some of the parents and hook the node up to new parents without having to change all the node names within the equation.
Or perhaps you copy and paste the node to use with new parents. Or you put the node in a net fragment library without any parents, so that it will be supplied with new parents when it is used. Or you want to copy and paste the equation from one node to another, without changing all the node names.
The solution to all these problems is to use link names, sometimes called input names. They provide an argument name for each link entering the node (and therefore a proxy for each parent node). You can set them with the node dialog box. You refer to them in your equation in exactly the same way you would the corresponding parent name. When a parent is disconnected, the link name will remain.
If link names are defined for a node, they must
be used instead of the parent names.