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Daniel McIntyre Collegiate InstituteApplied Math 40SConnectivity Matricies
Planning travel between different cities can become very complicated. If the number of cities and thenumber of alternative routes are small, the problem is relatively easy and can be handled with littlemore than paper and pencil. If the number of cities is large (even just 5 cities) or if there are manyalternative routes, the human mind has great difficulty organizing and considering all thealternatives.A matrix is a mathematical tool that is useful for organizing and dealing with large amounts of data.Matrices (plural for matrix) can be used to summarize the routes between cities and to evencalculate the different number of routes. Airlines, train and bus companies, and truck dispatchers aresome of the organizations that use matrices as they make plans for moving people or goods to andfrom various locations.To see how matrices are used in transportation planning, let's start with something simple: aproblem involving three cities and then we'll extend what we've learned to a more realistic probleminvolving six cities.
Three Cities
 A small airline serves three cities, Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), and Charlotte (CLT), using alimited number of airplanes. The flight service planner needs a convenient method for keeping trackof all possible trips connecting the three cities. She is concerned with "one-hop," "two-hop," "three-hop," etc. trips. A "two-hop" trips means that you start at one city, say Atlanta, and make one-hop tothe next, say Boston, then a second hop to another city, either Atlanta or Charlotte.This small airline is licenced to fly between certain cities. It can fly a route between Atlanta andBoston (to and from either city) and a route between Boston and Charlotte (again, to and fromeither city). No other flights are available.1. Use the diagram below to draw a network that shows this airline's route service between Atlanta(ATL), Boston (BOS), and Charlotte (CLT).
BOSCLTATL
A matrix is a rectangular grid of numbers. For example,200132
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
is a matrix consisting of three rowsand two columns. We put parentheses around the numbers in the grid to indicate that they are to beconsidered as a single item: a matrix of numbers. Each number inside the matrix is known as anelement or cell.We can create a matrix that represents the routes between our three cities. Such a matrix will need
 
three rows and three columns, each row and column represent each of the three cities.AtlantaBostonCharlotteAtlantaBostonCharlotteFor each cell in the matrix, we can place a 1 to indicate that there is one route between the city in therow and column for that cell. For example, there is one route between Atlanta and Boston, so thereshould be a 1 in the cell on the first row, second column. We use 0 to indicate that there is no routebetween the two cities. There is no route from Atlanta to Charlotte (directly, in one-hop) andlikewise no route from Atlanta back to Atlanta (directly) so the matrix looks like:AtlantaBostonCharlotteAtlanta010BostonCharlotte2. Complete the matrix above.Mathematicians prefer to work with only the most relevant information. The matrix summarizingthe one-hop routes between the three cities is know as the "connectivity matrix" and it can be writtenin its briefest form by leaving off the names of the cities:010101010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The power of mathematics is derived from what information one can gains from its use. To see thispower, first produce all the "two-hop" routes between the three cities. To get you started, is there a"two-hop" route between Atlanta and Atlanta? Yes, you fly Atlanta to Boston then back to Atlanta.Any others? No. So 1 goes in the first cell. Is there a "two-hop" route from Atlanta to Boston? No,you can fly from Atlanta to Boston, but your next hop will take you away from Boston, so 0 will goin the next cell.AtlantaBostonCharlotteAtlanta10BostonCharlotte3. Complete the table above of all two-hop routes between the three cities.4. Find the product of 010101010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
010101010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. Compare the results of #3 and #4 above. What do you notice?
 
6. Find the product of 101020101
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
010101010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
or010101010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3
7. Fill in the table for the three hop routes between the three cities.AtlantaBostonCharlotteAtlantaBostonCharlotte8. What does the 4thpower of the connectivity matrix tell you.Matrix multiplication can get tiresome. A graphing calculator or computer can be used to performmatrix multiplication. Feel free to use your calculator throughout this exercise.
A More Realistic Example
Consider six cities: Los Angeles (LAX), Atlanta (ATL), Pittsburgh (PIT), Miami (MIA), Charlotte(CLT), and Boston (BOS). Suppose our airline as expanded serve to include routes among thesesix as described by the network diagram below:
BOSCLTPITATLMIALAX
9. Find the connectivity matrix for the six cities.10. Use a graphing calculator to find the number of all two-hop routes between the six cities.11. Use a graphing calculator to find the number of all three-hop routes between the six cities.12. Use a graphing calculator to find the number of all four-hop routes between the six cities.
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