Minimum Spanning Trees

Abstract

GTC has been assigned the job of interconnecting six departments, labeled A, B, C, D, E, and F, of a university, at minimum cost. Practical considerations make it impossible to connect several pairs of departments directly to one another. In fact the only direct connections possible are the ones between departments A and B, A and D, B and C, B and D, B and E, C and D, C and F, D and E, and E and F. These connections are shown in the network of Figure 2.1, in which the nodes correspond to departments and edges correspond to possible direct connections. The numbers next to the edges denote the cost of making those connections in ``100 units. GTC is required to connect the six departments as cheaply as possible.