A local area network is a communication network that spans a relatively small area.

• A. A wireless network that covers an entire city
• B. A set of protocols for internet routing
• C. A communication network that spans a relatively small area
• D. A device that prints data

Answer: (C)

Local area networks are networks that cover a small geographic area, such as a single building or campus. They’re typically owned by one organization and designed to move data quickly between connected devices—computers, printers, servers—so resources can be shared efficiently. Technologies like Ethernet and Wi‑Fi are common in LANs, delivering high data rates and low latency to support rapid file transfers, gaming, or collaborative work.

The description matches this idea because it focuses on the network spanning a small area and enabling direct, fast communication among devices within that limited space. The other options describe different concepts: a city-wide wireless network would be a metropolitan area network or WAN, not a LAN; a set of protocols for internet routing refers to routing methods rather than a local network category; a device that prints data is a printer, not a network type.