Introduction to Networks with Networkx

A Network or a Graph is a structure that contains a set of objects and how these objects in some sense are related to each other. These objects in the network are represented by what are called as node or vertex and the relations between them are represented by lines connecting them called as edges.

For example, a network can represent the devices that are connected in Internet, or the citations of scholarly papers through bibliographic references or the species of animals that are connected by links telling which species feeds on which other species. Below are a few examples of a few networks.

Image Source: Network Science Book by Albert Barabasi

Seven Bridges of Konigsberg

The first problem of network can be traced to the problem of the Seven Bridges of Koenigsberg which was solved by Leonhard Euler in a paper published in 1736 to give the negative resolution to the problem with the help of a graph. The problem was to find a path over the four landmasses which was connected by seven bridges such that one crosses a bridge only once, to show that this cannot be done for that particular topology, he constructed a network to show it.

Image Source: Network Science Book by Albert Barabasi

Networks with Networkx