Chinese postman problem

Meaning

Noun

• The problem of finding the shortest closed path or circuit that visits every edge of a (connected) undirected graph.

Origin

• Originally studied by the Chinese mathematician Kwan Mei-Ko in 1960, whose Chinese paper was translated into English in 1962. The name "Chinese postman problem" was coined in his honour, and is varyingly ascribed to Alan J. Goldman or Jack Edmonds, both of the US National Bureau of Standards.