Theory and Application of Complex Networks

Fall 2008

Final Homework


Due by the end of the term

There are two options. Do one of the following.

  1. Empirical network exploration: Download one of the network data sets available here or here, or elsewhere. Prepare a brief, informal technical report or a slide presentation which contains the following
    1. Calculations of basic descriptive statistics: average path length, average clustering coefficient, diameter
    2. The degree distribution, plotted as a histogram
    3. Several different visualizations of all or part of the network. For each visualization, say what features of the nextwork you are highlighting or emphasizing.
    4. Write one or two paragraphs about what you think is interesting about the network.
    5. Write a few paragraphs proposing some further work concerning the network. What question(s) could you ask of this data, and why might the answer to those questions be interesting. Your proposal could entail further analysis on the data and/or plans to gather additional data.
    You can work in pairs if you wish.

  2. Wikipedia writing: Write a new wikipedia entry or add some new content to existing entries. You should aim to add around 500 words to wikipedia. What you write about should be at least loosely related to the content of this course.