The Seven Bridges of Königsberg/Section 5

by Leonhard Euler

Similarly, if the traveller proceeds from D across bridge g into C, I designate these three successive crossings by the four letters ABDC. These four letters signify that the traveller who was originally in A crossed over into B, then to D, and finally to C; and since these areas are separated from one another by the river the traveller must necessarily have crossed three bridges. The crossing of four bridges will be represented by five letters, and if the traveller crosses an arbitrary number of bridges his journey will be described by a number of letters that is one greater than the number of bridges. For example, eight letters are needed to denote the crossing of seven bridges.