What is a network and how can you use mathematics to unravel the relationships between a variety of different things? How can this understanding then be applied to a range of different settings?
In this Oxford Sparks podcast Oxford Mathematician Mason Porter studies how things are connected using mathematics. He builds up models of these connections to represent them as networks. But what are the basic components of a network? In the podcast Mason describes how from social networks to transport systems to locating a lost umbrella, the mathematics of networks can be used to address a range of apparently unconnected problems and how organisations around the world are using them to penetrate their ever-growing mass of data.