Network Science
Introduction
Dr. Ebrahimi
Fall 2025
Content
◎ What is a network?
◎ What is network sciense?
◎ Network Examples
◎ What we do in the network analysis?
◎ Network sciense history
◎ Type of Graphs
What is a network?
The word "network" generally refers to a system or group of interconnected things or people. It can be
understood in different contexts,
But overall it means:
◎ A connected system: Like a network of computers linked together to share information.
◎ A group of people: A social network where individuals are connected through relationships, like
friends or professional contacts.
◎ A structure, Such as a network of roads, wires, or communication lines connecting different points.
◎ In essence, a network is about connections and interactions between multiple entities forming a
cohesive system.
What is network science?
◎ Network science is the study of networks—how things are connected and how those
connections affect the behavior and properties of the whole system.
◎ It’s an interdisciplinary field that combines mathematics, physics, computer science, sociology,
biology, and more.
◎ It analyzes complex networks, such as social networks (how people connect), biological
networks (how proteins or neurons interact), technological networks (including the internet and
power grids), and many others.
◎ The goal is to understand patterns, structures, and dynamics in these networks—like how
information spreads, how networks grow, or how robust they are to failures.
◎ So basically, network science helps us understand and predict how interconnected systems
work in the real world.
◎ a complex network is a network where the arrangement and interaction of nodes and links
create behaviors and properties that are more intricate and often unpredictable than simple
networks.
Examples
◎ Social Networks
Connections between people (friends, colleagues, followers on social media)
Example: Facebook friendships or Twitter follower networks
Examples
◎ Biological Networks
Neural networks in the brain
Protein-protein interaction networks
RNA regulatory network
Examples
◎ Technological Networks
The internet (websites linked by hyperlinks)
Power grids (power stations connected by transmission lines)
Transportation networks (airline routes, road systems)
Examples
◎ Information Networks
Citation networks (how academic papers cite each other)
The World Wide Web (webpages linked by URLs)
Examples
◎ Economic Networks
Trade networks between countries or companies
Financial networks connecting banks and institutions
What we do in the network analysis?
◎ Mapping real-world phenomena to networks
Reconstruction of networks
Alice Bob
Alice Carol
Eve
Bob Carol
Bob Dave
Dave Eve
Dave Frank
Eve Frank
Dave Frank
Alice
Bob
Carol
What we do in the network analysis?
◎ Describing network (phenomena)
Number of Nodes & Edges
Network structure, density, and sparsity
Degree distribution
What we do in the network analysis?
◎ Analysis
Centralities (Influential Nodes, Important Edges), Intermediacy (Betweenness)
Communities
What we do in the network analysis?
◎ Network dynamics
Information flow, network diffusion
Network robustness
What we do in the network analysis?
◎ Visualizations
graphical representation of a network. The goal is to make complex relationships, patterns, and structures
within the network easier to understand at a glance.
Network science of Graph theory?
◎ Mathematical formalism from graph theory
◎ New insights from statistical physics
◎ Recent availability of very large databases on networked systems
◎ Computational resources to analyze them
Types of Graph
◎ Undirected
Edges have no direction (e.g., friendship network)
◎ Directed
edges have directions (e.g., follower relationships on social media)
◎ Weighted
edges carry weights/costs (e.g., distances in a map)
◎ Complete
Every pair of nodes is connected
◎ Cyclic Graph
contains at least one cycle
◎ Acyclic Graph
has no cycles (e.g., DAG—Directed Acyclic Graph)
◎ Connected / Disconnected Graphs
whether all vertices are reachable
More!
Question
◎ Give some examples of networks you deal with.
◎ What is important in those networks (you want to find out)?
Homework
◎ Install the necessary tools and start working
◎ Start programming
Thank you