concept

Degree (graph theory)

The number of edges a node has — how many other nodes it connects to directly. A single forest tree wired to a few neighbours has low degree; a Tree of Souls wired to thousands has very high degree. Degree is the simplest measure of a node's importance: high-degree nodes (the hubs) carry most of a network's traffic, and losing one does far more damage than losing a low-degree node.