E53 -- Solutio problematis ad geometriam situs pertinentis
(The solution of a problem relating to the geometry of position)
Summary:
This is one of Euler's most famous papers—the Königsberg bridge problem. It is often cited as the earliest paper in both topology and graph theory. So much has been written about this paper that it would be foolish to repeat it here. Instead, the best links are given below.
According to the records, it was presented to the St. Petersburg Academy on August 26, 1735.
Publication:
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Originally published in Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae 8, 1741, pp. 128-140
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Opera Omnia: Series 1, Volume 7, pp. 1 - 10
- Reprinted in Comment. acad. sc. Petrop. 8, ed. nova, Bononiae 1752, pp. 116-126 + 1 diagram
[53a]
- A handwritten French
translation of this treatise can be found in the library of the observatory in Uccle, near Brussels.
Documents Available:
- Original publication: E53 (in the Commentarii), Volume 8.
- Two complete English-language translations are available, in Newman's "World of Mathematics" and in Biggs, Lloyd & Wilson's "Graph Theory 1736-1936," respectively.
- Portuguese translation (Frederico José Andries Lopes and Plínio Zornoff Táboas): E53
- Great webpages about the Königsberg Bridge Problem:
- The Euler Archive attempts to monitor current scholarship for articles and books that may be of interest to Euler Scholars. Selected references we have found that discuss or cite E53 include:
- Dror M, Haouari M., �Generalized Steiner problems and other variants.� Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, 4 (4), pp. 415-436 (Dec 2000).
- Eiselt HA, Gendreau M, Laporte G., �ARC routing problems .1. the chinese postman problem.� Operations Research, 43 (2), pp. 231-242 (Mar-Apr 1995).
- Fowler PA., �The Königsberg Bridges - 250 years later.� American Mathematical Monthly, 95 (1), pp. 42-43 (Jan 1988).
- Kruja E, Marks J, Blair A, et al.., �A short note on the history of graph drawing.� Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2265, pp. 272-286 (2002).
- Lukovits I, Nikolic S, Trinajstic N., �On relationships between vertex-degrees, path-numbers and graph valence-shells in trees.� Chemical Physics Letters, 354 (5-6), pp. 416-422 (Mar 2002).
- Przytycki JH., �Classical roots of knot theory.� Chaos Solutions & Fractals, 9 (4-5), pp. 531-545 (Apr-May 1998).
- Sachs H, Stiebitz M, Wilson RJ., �An Historical Note - Euler Königsberg Letters.� Journal of Graph Theory, 12 (1), pp. 133-139 (Spr 1988).
- Schubarth E., �Der gruppenbegriff in der geometrie.� Experientia, 3 (10), pp. 385-393 (1947).
- Wilson RJ., �An Eulerian trail through Königsberg.� Journal of Graph Theory, 10 (3), pp. 265-275 (Fall 1986).
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