Network Analysis

Graph Genius: Unlocking the Secrets of Identifying Key Nodes

Discover key metrics to Identify the Importance of a Node in a Graph

Pratyush Khare
8 min readFeb 11, 2023

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Graphs are useful data structures for representing relationships between distinct entities. They are frequently utilised in a variety of disciplines, including computer science, mathematics, physics, and social science. In many circumstances, identifying the most important nodes in a graph is crucial since it can be beneficial for a range of applications such as social network analysis, recommendation systems, and more. In this blog article, we will look at many metrics for determining the importance of a node in a graph.

Connected Graph with important Nodes (Image generated by DALL-E)

In-Degree and Out-Degree

In-degree and out-degree are two of the most basic metrics for determining the significance of a node in a graph. The number of edges coming into a node is expressed as in-degree, whereas the number of edges leaving a node is expressed as out-degree. These metrics are frequently employed in directed graphs with edges that have a direction.

In-degree and out-of-degree are useful for detecting key nodes in directed graphs like social networks, citation networks, and web graphs. In a social network, for example, a node with a high in-degree may

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Pratyush Khare
Pratyush Khare

Written by Pratyush Khare

Data scientist, tech buff, student-for-life, loves building AI/ML platforms/solutions, drawing insights from data.