Konigsberg In Old Prussia Had of Bridges Just Seven
Konigsberg in old Prussia had of bridges just seven,
A distressing fact to the Konigsbergers since their rival had eleven.
To distract from their angst, the Mayor made up a game,
The winner of which would surely achieve great lasting fame;
The goal: to walk over the seven but each only one time.
For they thought such a walk would be ever so sublime.
So they tried and they tried, but success was denied,
An embarrassing failure the Konigsbergers couldn't hide.
For while the contestants could always walk over six, each
Would then find the seventh was just out of reach.
But one day the famed Leonhard Euler came to town,
And he looked at their bridges and described what he found.
“I’ve added, subtracted. multiplied and divided,
And after much thought, this is what I’ve decided:
In view of Koenigsberg’s bridge distribution,
Mathematically this problem has no solution."
"If you had six bridges or eight, or even twenty-one,
There is a solution and your contest be won.
But with seven it can’t.
Now please excuse me, I’m going off to see
Immanual Kant
To discuss philosophy.”
This so depressed the poor Konigsbergers
That they went into therapy with eminent doctors.
And they never did learn that their Konigsberg story
Would later become famous in mathematical hist'ry.
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