A network technician examining routing protocols is likely using which type of metric based on the number of hops to a destination?

The choice referring to distance vector metrics is correct because distance vector routing protocols determine the best path to a destination based on the number of hops. Each router shares its knowledge of the network topology with its immediate neighbors, which includes the distance to each destination and the direction (or vector) to reach it. The metric here is simply the number of hops; the more hops between the source and destination, the higher the distance metric value.

Distance vector protocols, such as Routing Information Protocol (RIP), make routing decisions by calculating the shortest path based solely on the hop count to a destination. This approach contrasts with other types of routing metrics, such as link-state, which consider more complex factors like bandwidth and delay, or hybrid metrics that combine features of both distance vector and link-state protocols.