An Optimized Algorithm for Calculating the Average Path Length of Complex Network

Abstract

to calculate the average path length of a large-scale complex network accurately and efficiently is always an important topic in the study of complex networks. For this purpose, an optimized algorithm is proposed based on reachability matrix as well as its efficiency analysis. The basic idea of this algorithm is to construct network distance matrix through network reachability matrix firstly, then to calculate the average path length according to distance matrix. It is proved and verified that the proposed algorithm is much more efficient than traditional algorithms like Floyd and Warshall algorithms for calculating large-scale complex networks with small-world effect.