Resistance distance

Resistance distance is a way to measure how far apart two points are in a network. Imagine you and your friend are playing a game with a bunch of straws taped together. You have to get a tiny ball from one end of the straw chain to the other. Every straw has some resistance or difficulty to pass through. Some straws might be cushy and easy to pass through, while others might be more difficult or blocked.

Now imagine the resistance distance is the total difficulty you face in moving the ball from one end of the straw chain to the other. It's like adding up how much resistance you experienced in each individual straw.

Similarly, electrical circuits and other networks have different levels of resistance at different points. Resistance distance allows us to calculate how much resistance there is between two points, and therefore, how difficult it is for electrical current to flow between them.

Overall, resistance distance helps us understand the complex nature of networks and how difficult it can be to move between different points within them.