When Identical Degree Distributions Hide Distinct Correlation Patterns “Two networks may share the same degree distribution and yet encode profoundly different organizational principles.” Context Consider two undirected networks, A and B , each with the same degree distribution $P(k)$ and identical average degree $\langle k \rangle = 6.2$. Despite this structural similarity, empirical analysis shows that the average neighbor degree function $k_{nn}(k)$ behaves differently for each network: For Network A , $k_{nn}(k)$ increases approximately as a power law $k_{nn}(k) \sim a,k^{\mu}$ with $\mu > 0$. For Network B , $k_{nn}(k)$ decreases with $k$, following $k_{nn}(k) \sim a,k^{\mu}$ with $\mu < 0$. Definition The Pearson correlation coefficient of degree correlation r r r is defined as: r = ∑ j , k j k ( e j k − q j q k ) σ 2 r = \frac{\sum_{j,k} j k \,\big(e_{jk} - q_j q_k\big)}{\sigma^2} r = σ 2 ∑ j , k jk ( e jk − q j q k ) where: ejk e_{jk} e ...