Q.Give any two examples of networks.

Network Definition: A First Look

Think about the last time you called a friend, sent a WhatsApp message, or even just walked into a classroom and sat next to someone. In each case, you were part of a network — a set of connections between people or things. The word itself comes from "net" + "work": imagine a fishing net, where each knot is a point and each thread is a link between two knots. That image is the heart of the idea.

The Everyday Intuition

You already live inside networks every day. Your family is a small network: each person is a point, and relationships (parent–child, sibling–sibling) are the connections. Your school is a larger network: students, teachers, classes, buses — all linked in different ways. Even the roads you travel form a network of intersections and routes.

The key insight is this: a network is not just a collection of things; it is the pattern of relationships between them. That pattern — who is connected to whom, and how — is what makes a network interesting and useful.

The Precise Meaning

In formal terms, a network (also called a graph in mathematics) has two basic ingredients:

• Nodes (also called vertices): the individual points or entities. In a social network, nodes are people. In a transport network, nodes are cities or bus stops. In a computer network, nodes are devices.
• Edges (also called links or connections): the lines that join two nodes together. An edge represents a relationship — friendship, a road, a cable, a phone call.

Why This Matters

The network definition is powerful because it lets us study structure without getting lost in details. When you look at a social network, you don't need to know what people look like or what they earn — you only need to know who is connected to whom. That alone can tell you:

• Who is most influential (the person with the most connections)
• How quickly information spreads (through short chains of connections)
• Whether the network is tightly knit or loosely scattered
• Where the weak spots are (if one key person leaves, does the network fall apart?)

Types of Networks You Already Know

The NCERT Perspective …