Geometry: New Tools for New Technologies: Hour 1: Unit 5: Snowbound Euler Circuits

How is geometry used to program a robot's movement? How do zoo planners use geometry to make habitats that are enjoyable and safe? Why do people who plan garbage pickups and snowplow routes need geometry? Geometry: New Tools for New Technologies I and II explores the exciting world of Geometry in the 20th century.

Unit 5: Snowbound Euler Circuits (12:02)

Summary of the Video

In this video, Larry Bodin of the University of Maryland explains the geometry behind the methods that businesses and governments use to solve such problems as snow removal, mail delivery routes, and garbage collection. Using a geometric tool called a graph—a diagram consisting of points and line—the eighteenth century mathematician Leonhard Euler showed exactly under what conditions snow removal problems could be solved efficiently. Euler did this in the context of the Königsberg Bridge problem. The video shows how to extend Euler’s ideas to solve problems that involve different measures of costs. This extension involves the work of contemporary mathematicians.

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