In the CNET article found here the author discusses how the recent boom in network research has led to startling revelations in the mathematics of network theory. Network mathematics, a field in the past studied primarily by physicists and mathematicians, is growing in complexity thanks to the collaborative efforts of sociologists, statisticians, and many […]

So far we have discussed very basic mathematical methods in analyzing social networks, using basic graph theory and other mathematics traditionally used in network study. This paper* presents an analysis of social networks using a strictly physical analogy—that is, applying laws of kinematics within a closed set of people to show that clear social […]

In a previous post, rebelkingismyhero discussed a model of large scale networks called the random graph. A random graph/network is generated by connecting each pair of a number of vertices with some probability. This creates a graph with each vertex having the same connectivity or level of connectedness on average. rebelkingismyhero noted that […]

Facebook, evidently searching for masses of programmers to do their evil bidding, has actually found a great way to attract engineers at the same time as screening potential job applicants: programming puzzles.

Problem: (the full text of the long-winded setup to the problem can be found after the jump @ facebook)
Suppose you and 15 friends are […]

http://www.gametheory.net/News/Items/108.html
http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/notebooks/ethics-biology.html
 
Where are Irrationality, Justice, and Morality in Game Theory?
 
The entire field of game theory seems to be built upon the concept of rationality. In each situation, players will play the strategy which maximizes their individual payoff. Any experience with the real world however, will lead us to the conclusion that this assumption is inherently flawed […]

In class and the second homework we studied how users responded to a simple transportation network given certain costs for different segments. We saw that given a certain network, the nash equilibrium is not necessarily socially optimal (the joint strategy is not a social welfare maximizer). This fact is one problem facing urban […]

Although we’ve seen many illustrations and schematics of networks in class, there hasn’t been much discussion of how we might analyze or model large networks, which are seemingly impossible to understand at a glance. The importance of being able to model large networks rather than simply looking at many examples of large networks is […]

Many of the networks discussed during the introductory phase of the class were ones in which the nodes represented humans, and the edges represented social ties. The Internet of Things is a neologism originally coined by Julian Bleeker, a media design and information science researcher, meaning both an environment in which everyday things are passively […]

ESV Bible blog had a post today with the social network of the new testament. I’ve inserted a small version of the graph below (large version):

I’m not very religious and have a very limited knowledge in this area, but from what I can tell Jesus is at the top of the heirarchy (obviously) and […]