1. Overview
In this tutorial, we’ll discuss some of the most important data structures in computer science – graphs.
We’ll first study the basics of graph theory, in order to familiarize ourselves with its conceptual foundation. We’ll then study the types of graphs that we can find in our machine learning applications.
At the end of this tutorial, we’ll know what a graph is and what types of graphs exist. We’ll also know what are the characteristics of the graph’s primitive components.
2. The Basics of Graph Theory
2.1. The Definition of a Graph
A graph is a structure that comprises a set of vertices and a set of edges. So in order to have a graph we need to define the elements of two sets: vertices and edges.
The vertices are the elementary units that a graph must have, in order for it to exist. It’s customary to impose on graphs the condition that they must have at least one vertex, but there’s no real theoretical reason why this is the case. Vertices are mathematical abstractions corresponding to objects associated with one another by some kind of criterion.
