"in order to work efficiently, routing packets along the best path towards their final destination" does not make sense

Hola,

I totally understand where you are coming from. Let's look at this a bit more...

"in order to work efficiently, routing packets along the best path towards their final destination"

This is totally true. Right, I mean it at least makes sense. If I am going A to B I don't want to go to A, D, C B if I don't have to right?

Let's look at the next part.

"Routers find the most efficient way to send data from one router to the next"

This is true, it's a routers job to find the best way to send data. It's the routers job to make sure I go from A to B and not D, C then B am I right?

"And before she talks about Routing Tables"

Well how does a router determine the best route without knowing all possible routes? This is done via a routing table. The table is the basis in which a router is able to choose the best path.

Ok let's see if I can sum it up.

Of course the best destination A- to -B. It's the job of a routers to determine the best option. Routers do this via routing tables. Do keep in mind that she doesn't talk about his. But it's definitely possible to alter the routing table in a way that keeps it from being the best. In some events you need to actually do this in order to make it the best. Think of it like cell phone towers.

A cell phone as you drive in your car is connected to a tower. As you drive further form that tower it doesn't switch until it's about to lose service. Then it switches to a tower that is closer and gives you better service. BUT what if you stopped just before that happened. You would be connected to a tower much further away. This is not efficient at all. But it is what it is. Unless you turn your phone off and back on so it connects to the closest tower. Same goes for routers. You an configure them to be faster and they are suppose to be the festest already But when we start talking out etc/hosts on windows or etc/resol.v on linux We point to our router or genmask or subnetmask whatever you want to call it. We can point to a different router that is closer. There for better. Although, that should already be detected. .But keep in mind the goal is the shortest distance, but that's not always the reality.

Does this make sense or have I confused you more lol?