Open AccessA BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO SCALE‐FREE NETWORKS
Author(s) -
REED WILLIAM J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
natural resource modeling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.28
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1939-7445
pISSN - 0890-8575
DOI - 10.1111/j.1939-7445.2006.tb00173.x
Subject(s) - scale free network , scale (ratio) , preferential attachment , homogeneous , computer science , complex network , population , mathematics , statistical physics , mathematical economics , physics , combinatorics , demography , sociology , quantum mechanics
. This article provides a brief introduction to scale‐free networks. The notion of a scale‐free network is defined and some examples given. Properties frequently exhibited by scale‐free networks are discussed. The importance of the phenomenon of preferential attachment in generating scale‐free networks is illustrated with two examples for the spread of a persistent disease. The models are similar in that they both yield a total infected population (1) which is geometrically distributed, and growing exponentially in expectation; and (2) in which the average distance from the original source of infection grows in a similar way over time. However one model, which has preferential attachment (infection), yields a scale‐free network, while the other which has homogeneous infectivity does not. The possible application of the theory of scale‐free networks to resource management is briefly discussed.