ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Linear partial information

Linear partial information means that you have pieces of information that can be used to make something, but not all the information you need. A good example of this would be like a jigsaw puzzle. You have a box with lots of little pieces inside it, but you don't have a picture to look at. You need to put the pieces together to make a picture, but you won't have all the pieces you need so the picture won't be complete.