Speaker : Dr. Po-Han Lee (The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University) 從玩遊戲到作研究- Complex root networks of Chinese characters 2017-06-28 (Wed) 15:00 - 16:00 Seminar Room 722, Institute of Mathematics (NTU Campus) There are several sets of Chinese characters that are still available today, including oracle bone inscriptions (OBI) in Shang Dynasty (about 1600-1046 BC), Chu characters (CC) used in Chu of Warring State Period (476–221 BC), Small Seal Script (SSS) in dictionary Shuowen Jiezi (SJ) edited by Xu Shen (ca. 58 – ca. 147 AD) in Eastern Han Dynasty (23-206 AD), and Kangxi Dictionary (KD) edited in 1710-1716 during Kangxi Emperor of Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). Such Chinese characters were all constructed via combinations of meaningful patterns, called roots. When two roots appear in the same character, they are connected by a link and a complex network of all roots (nodes) of a set of characters can be constructed. The clustering coefficient $C$, the average shortest distances between nodes $L$, the degree distribution, the average degrees of nodes $\bar{k}$, and the disassortative coefficient $r$ of a complex network can be calculated. Our studies indicate that roots of characters in OBI, CC, SJ and KD have characteristics of small world networks and scale-free networks. From OBI, Chu, SJ, to KD, $C$ and $\bar{k}$ have the evolution trend of becoming larger, $L$ has the trend of becoming smaller, and $r$ has the trend of becoming more negative.