Königsberg bridge problem

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Long-standing puzzle that was solved by topology (the geometry of those properties of a figure which remain the same under distortion). In the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia), seven bridges connect the banks of the River Pregol'a and the islands in the river. For many years, people were challenged to cross each of the bridges in a single tour and return to their starting point. In 1736 Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler converted the puzzle into a topological network, in which the islands and river banks were represented as nodes (junctions), and the connecting bridges as lines. By analysing this network he was able to show that it is not traversable – that is, it is impossible to cross each of the bridges once only and return to the point at which one started.

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