Which of the following is a characteristic of route aggregation?

Route aggregation, also known as route summarization, is a technique used in routing protocols to minimize the number of routes that are advertised across the network. By combining multiple contiguous subnet addresses into a single, summarized route, it effectively reduces the routing table size and the amount of routing information that must be processed and maintained by routers. This not only improves the efficiency of the routing process but also enhances network stability by reducing the likelihood of routing updates causing congestion or instability.

In contrast, summarization does not involve summarizing subnet addresses into classful addresses, mapping private to public IP addresses, or dividing a network into multiple subnets. These functions pertain to different aspects of network design and addressing rather than the specific goal of minimizing routing advertisements. Thus, focusing on the characteristic that directly relates to reducing the volume of route advertisements highlights the core benefit of route aggregation.