OCR MEI D1 2014 June — Question 3

Exam BoardOCR MEI
ModuleD1 (Decision Mathematics 1)
Year2014
SessionJune
TopicMinimum Spanning Trees

3 Six remote villages are linked by a set of roads. Two villages are connected directly if there is a road between them which does not pass through another village. The table gives the lengths in miles of all direct connections.
ABCDEF
A67123
B6108
C7102
D12298
E89
F38
  1. Why might it be thought surprising that the direct distance between A and D is as long as 12 miles? Give a possible reason why the distance is longer than might have been expected.
  2. Use the tabular form of Prim's algorithm, starting at A , to find a minimum connector for these villages. Draw your connector and give its total length.