In the case of a Bus/Tree topology, the signal balancing issue is overcome by

Concept: In a bus/tree (broadband-style) topology every station taps into one shared physical medium, and as a signal propagates outward from its source it loses amplitude with distance and with each additional tap. When cable runs get long, distant taps can receive a signal too weak to be reliably distinguished from noise -- this is the signal-balancing problem inherent to a shared broadcast cable plant.

Application: The standard fix, covered in data-communication texts such as Stallings' Data and Computer Communications, is to divide the physical cable into smaller segments connected through amplifiers or repeaters. Because each segment now only has to carry the signal across a shorter span, the received strength at every tap within that segment stays inside a usable, balanced range -- this technique is called segmentation.

Cross-check: contrast this with the other techniques offered.

• Modulation shifts a baseband signal onto a carrier at a different frequency so several signals can share bandwidth on the same medium; it does not address how far a signal can travel before it weakens.

• Polling is a medium-access-control technique in which a controller invites each station to transmit in turn; it decides who transmits, not how strong the received signal is.

• A stronger transmitter raises the signal's power at the source, but that higher amplitude propagates everywhere on the shared medium, overloading nearby taps while more distant taps still fade -- it does not restore balance across the whole span.

Segmentation is therefore the technique that overcomes the signal-balancing problem in a Bus/Tree topology.