The Rich Get Richer

Preferential attachment

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Preferential attachment: the more you have, the faster you grow.
• Pólya’s urn settles to a random limit decided by early luck.
• It produces power-law hubs in networks and cumulative advantage in society.

Steps

1. Success breeds success
2. The first draw
3. Where does it settle?
4. Networks
5. Pólya’s urn
6. Cumulative advantage