When you use the ping command, you send an ICMP echo request to a destination and wait for an ICMP echo reply from that destination. If you receive a reply, it means that the destination is reachable and there is no packet loss on the network path between you and the destination.
On the other hand, the traceroute command works by sending a series of packets with TTL (time-to-live) values that gradually increase. Each router on the path to the destination decrements the TTL value of the packet by 1. When the TTL reaches 0, the router discards the packet and sends back an ICMP Time Exceeded message to the source. The traceroute command displays the IP addresses of the routers that send back the Time Exceeded messages, thus revealing the path to the destination.
If you see loss on the traceroute but not on the ping, it means that some routers on the path to the destination are discarding packets with TTL values that are too low, indicating that the packets are taking too long to reach their destination. This could be due to congestion or other network issues.
It's also possible that some routers are configured to block ICMP packets, which can affect the traceroute results. In this case, you may need to use alternative methods, such as using a tool like tcptraceroute, which uses TCP packets instead of ICMP packets to perform the trace.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/traceroute-work-examples-using-command-priyanka-kumari/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traceroute