Routing involves two basic activities: ______ and ______.

• A. Path determination and packet switching.
• B. Address resolution and error checking.
• C. Routing and forwarding.
• D. Path selection and fragmentation.

Answer: (A)

Routing centers on two main tasks: figuring out the path from the source to the destination (path determination) and actually moving the packet along that path to the next hop (packet switching).

Path determination is about choosing the appropriate route using the destination address and the network topology, so the packet knows where to go next. Packet switching, in turn, is the act of forwarding the packet through the router’s switching fabric to the correct outgoing interface toward the next hop. Together, these two activities enable a packet to travel from source to destination across a network.

Other options mix in activities that aren’t the routing process itself: address resolution and error checking handle mapping addresses and data integrity, not route planning; routing and forwarding is close but combines two terms that don’t emphasize the distinct steps of determining the path and switching the packet; fragmentation is about breaking packets for transmission, not about routing decisions.