AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPLEX NETWORK ANALYSIS

The study of complex networks involves analyzing the relationships of various elements of a system. This study uses concepts from Graph Theory, which is an area of Operations Research, in which the relationship between the elements of a system, called nodes or vertices, are modeled by edges that are ordered pairs of vertices. One of the applications of complex networks has been the study of social networks, in which the vertices correspond to individuals and the relationships can be relationships of friendship, work, mutual interest, etc. Furthermore, Complex Networks have also been used for time series analysis in various contexts. In this short course, we intend to discuss the main applications of Complex Networks, their structural properties and present the main global and local metrics used in Complex Networks. The concepts will be illustrated through computational examples using the Python language and the NetworkX package.