Geodetic distance

The geodetic distance is a network theoretical measure that indicates the mean length of all shortest paths in a network or graph . In order to get from one random node to another, you have to go through as many edges as the geodetic distance. The geodetic distance is sometimes incorrectly referred to as "diameter"; however, the diameter is the “maximum” distance within a graph.

In many natural networks the geodetic distance is surprisingly small, which is expressed by the small world phenomenon .

See also : Erdős number , Bacon number

literature

• Mark E. Newman: The structure and function of complex networks. In: SIAM Review. Volume 45, 2000, pp. 167-256, ISSN  0036-1445 Article Online (PDF; 1.2 MB).