Games with geometrical figures

fig. 55
16 in fig, 5,

0) .C
F5: (0

0:
0)
5:

fig 5E
fig. 56
10 in 16 in
C
0 (0_
5: C 0
Co

16 in 10 in
-

sion. Actually there is a gap of an internal paral-
lelogram of area 1.
The bridges of Konigsberg
This large East Prussian town (now called Ka-
liningrad and part of the Soviet Union) lies on the
river Pregel which, in the 18th century, was
crossed by seven bridges linking the various sec-
tions, as shown in Fig. 60. The town is best known
as the birthplace of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804),
the noted German philosopher. However, mathe-
maticians know Kbnigsberg because its layout is
the basis for an intricate puzzle which, in Kant's
time, eluded even the most famous of them. The
problem is this: Like the inhabitants of other Ger-
man cities, the Kbnigsbergers strolled through
town on Sundays; was it possible to plan such a
walk so that setting out from one's house one
could return to it after crossing each bridge once
and only once? The Swiss mathematician Leon-
hard Euler (1707-1783), born in Basle, studied
the problem and finally answered, no! (His re-
search, originally involving puzzles of this kind,
laid the foundation for a new branch of mathe-
matics, the theory of graphs. An elementary ac-
count of the theory is given in the next section.)
Here is Euler's general rule to determine the solu-
tion to this and similar problems. We count how
many bridges end on each bank or island. If more
than two totals are odd, there is no solution. If the
totals are even-or only two are odd-there is a
solution, namely a path crossing each bridge
once and only once. Consider Fig. 60. On A, there
are three bridgeheads; on B, 3; on C, 5; on D, 3.
More than two totals are odd, hence there is no
solution.

52
 Games with geometrical figures

fig, 59

,E
'''' I I I
Ha I I
A

- % -fi-g. f- b60 K

Below A 17th century engraving city s seven br oges n such a way

showing Konigsberg with the river that we cross each one only once? in
Prege and ts seven bridges It was 1735 the Swiss mathematics an Euler
such maps that generated the study used h s theory of graphs to prove
of topology Can we traverse the that t cannot be done

B'* gf''wi)I9

-a &'a z

,-'e

53
 Games with geometrical figures

fig. 61 D

fig. 61b D

Euler's work on graphs appeared in 1736.

Since then it has been usefully applied not only in
mathematics but in other fields as well, In the 19th
century, graphs were used in circuitry and in the-
ories of molecular diagrams. Today, aside from
being a method of analysis in pure mathematics,
the theory of graphs is used for the solution of
numerous practical problems, for example in
transportation and programming.
Euler was one of the most productive and orig-
inal mathematicians in the history of science. The
son of a Calvinist pastor, he was barely twenty
when, in 1727, he was invited to join the Academy
of Science in St. Petersburg (today's Leningrad).
He had an encyclopedic mind and though a stu- served, even while holding one of his many off-
dent of physics, astronomy and medicine, Euler spring Indeed his desk was always laden with
had a particular fondness for mathematical prob- work awaiting publication. In 1746 Euler lectured
lems. His output was prodigious. It is said that he at the Berlin Academy, but finding the cultural
wrote constantly-while waiting for dinner to be climate and the appreciation of his work less than

54