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[–] 106 points 1 year ago
  • Euler finds out the solution
  • Graph theory never gets invented
  • We never have telecommunications or GPS
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  • [–] 53 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 39 points 1 year ago

    A problem with this is that the river presumably goes all the way around the earth. Otherwise you could just travel west until you found its end. You really need a donut shaped earth, a sphere doesn't help much

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  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago

    When you go to sleep tonight, Euler is gonna be under your bed.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    but are there an even or odd number of bridges allng the circumnavigation

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Crossing oceans, which are continuous with the river, seems to make this about as meaningful at tunneling under the river.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago*

    Don't let the sailors tell you you have to cross oceans to circumnavigate the globe! Just walking around the headwaters of the Pregolya River is equivalent.

    While this would have worked in Euler's time, the puzzle in fact became unsolvable around 1873 when canals were built in the Masurian lakes effectively connecting a tributary of the Pregolya with a tributary of the Vistula to the south and cutting of this route. I assume the canals were constructed by mathematicians trying to close this loophole. Maybe hopping across lock gates when they're closed doesn't count as a bridge tho?

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago*

    Why not just take a boat over the river? Last time I checked boats were not bridges.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This must be the true reason the whole city got razed.

    Allegedly, the Russians wanted to negotiate about Kaliningrad in 1990 but Germany was more horrified than interested. Straightforward decision at the time. No one wanted a reprieve of the whole Polish Corridor thing, especially without even Germans living there. Rather a mistake in hindsight.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    Ahem Greetings. Can I have a go at it?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago