Large-scale structures can vary widely from network to network. These differences are often indicative of different types of networks (for example, social versus technological). Large-scale structures can also have important implications for functional properties, such as resilience to errors and attack. This chapter describes a variety of structural measures used to classify entire networks. Examples are given for a selection of real-world networks from different types of systems.
Topics covered in this chapter include the following:
- Global structure: Understanding the properties of whole networks
- Diameter and shortest paths: How to measure the size of a network
- Global clustering: Using clustering to quantify interconnections between neighbors of neighbors
- Resilience: How properties such as density and minimum cut can quantify error and...
