Chapter 1. Graphs and Graph Theory – an Introduction

People have different ways of learning new topics. We know that background information can contribute greatly to a better understanding of new topics. That is why, in this chapter of our Learning Neo4j book, we will start with quite a bit of background information, not to recount the tales of history, but to give you the necessary context that can lead to a better understanding of topics.

In order to do so, we will address the following topics:

• Graphs: What they are and where they came from. This section will aim to set the record straight on what exactly our subject will contain and what it won't.
• Graph theory: What it is and what it is used for. This section will give you quite a few examples of graph theory applications, and it will also start hinting at applications for graph databases such as Neo4j later on.

So, let's dig right in.