Consider a complete undirected graph with vertex set {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}. Entry Wij in the matrix W below is the weight of the edge {i, j}. What is the minimum possible weight of a spanning tree T in this graph such that vertex 0 is a leaf node in the tree T? (GATE CS 2010)

(A) 7
(B) 8
(C) 9
(D) 10


Answer: (D)

Explanation: To get the minimum spanning tree with vertex 0 as leaf, first remove 0th row and 0th column and then get the minimum spanning tree (MST) of the remaining graph. Once we have MST of the remaining graph, connect the MST to vertex 0 with the edge with minimum weight (we have two options as there are two 1s in 0th row).

Quiz of this Question