Stefan Novak
Stefan came to anthropology from graph theory and years of data work. He covers network analysis and the algebra of kinship, and he will happily spend a paragraph on why the order of two relations matters.
Explainers by Stefan
What the evidence says about Dunbar's number
Where the 150 in Dunbar's number comes from, the arithmetic behind it, what network studies find, and why a 2021 reanalysis and Dunbar's reply disagree.
André Weil and the first algebra of kinship
How André Weil turned Australian marriage rules into permutations in 1949, with a four-class system worked by hand and the algebra of cousin marriage.
Network density and centrality, worked by hand
Density, degree, closeness and betweenness computed by hand for a seven-household network, and what each number can and cannot tell an anthropologist.