Exercise 1: Connected Components With an Isolated Vertex — Possible Solution ==================================================================== GIVEN ------------------------------ Edges: P-Q, Q-R, S-T Vertex U has no edges at all. STEP 1: RUNNING THE REPEATED-TRAVERSAL METHOD ------------------------------ Start from P (unvisited): traversal reaches Q (via P-Q), then R (via Q-R). Component 1: {P, Q, R}. Next unvisited vertex: S. Traversal reaches T (via S-T). No further connections. Component 2: {S, T}. Next unvisited vertex: U. U has no edges at all, so the traversal starting from U immediately finds nothing further to explore. Component 3: {U}. RESULT ------------------------------ Three connected components: {P, Q, R}, {S, T}, {U} Per this chapter's own definition, an isolated vertex with no edges at all is still a valid connected component - just one containing only itself, since "connected to each other" trivially includes a single vertex being connected to itself. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ------------------------------ The repeated-traversal method is applied exactly as this chapter's own algorithm specifies - starting a new traversal from each still- unvisited vertex - and the isolated vertex U is explicitly handled as its own single-vertex component rather than overlooked.