The table below shows the distances, in kilometres, between a number of towns - HSC - SSCE Mathematics Standard - Question 20 - 2022 - Paper 1
Question 20
The table below shows the distances, in kilometres, between a number of towns.
Towns Snowtown (S) Clairville (C) Yuma (Y) Bosten (B) Morrella (M)
(S) ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:The table below shows the distances, in kilometres, between a number of towns - HSC - SSCE Mathematics Standard - Question 20 - 2022 - Paper 1
Step 1
Draw a weighted network diagram
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Answer
To represent the distances between the towns (S, C, Y, B, M), we draw a weighted graph as follows:
Connect S to Y with a weight of 280 km.
Connect S to B with a weight of 275 km.
Connect C to Y with a weight of 60 km.
Connect C to B with a weight of 150 km.
Connect Y to M with a weight of 530 km.
Connect B to M with a weight of 790 km.
Thus, the resultant diagram visually depicts all the towns and their respective distances.
S
/|\
280/ | \275
/ | \
Y---C---B
|\ | /
530\ 150/
\ /
M
Step 2
Draw the minimum spanning tree and determine its length
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Answer
To find the minimum spanning tree (MST), we assess the distances and select edges that connect all towns with the least total distance:
Start with the smallest weights: S to Y (280 km), S to B (275 km), and C to Y (60 km).
Include the connection from C to B (150 km) to finalize connections.
Avoid any cycles while maintaining connectivity among all vertices.
This results in:
S
/ \
280/ \275
/
Y---C
|
60 |
M
Calculating total length of the MST:
Length of minimum spanning tree = 275 + 280 + 60 + 150 + 530 = 1015 km.