Graph theory can be said to have its beginning in 1736 when EULER considered the (general case of the) Königsberg bridge problem: Is there a walking route that crosses each of the seven bridges of Königsberg exactly once? (Solutio Problematis ad geometriam situs pertinentis, Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae 8 (1736), pp. 128-140.) It took 200 years before the first book on graph theory was written. This was done by KÖNIG in 1936. (“Theorie der endlichen und unendlichen Graphen”, Teubner, Leipzig, 1936. Translation in English, 1990.) Since then graph theory has developed into an extensive and popular branch of mathematics, which has been applied to many problems in mathematics, computer science, and.
