Chinese postman problem

mathematics

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

July 17, 2026

Quick Summary

The Chinese postman problem is a mathematical problem in graph theory. It involves finding the shortest route that traverses every edge of a graph at least once. Unlike the traveling salesman problem, which requires visiting each node (city) once, the Chinese postman problem focuses on covering all edges (routes). This problem was solved in the 1960s and is related to optimization and routing.12

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

3 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

graph theory
Two well-known examples are the Chinese postman problem (the shortest path that visits each edge at least once), which was solved in the 1960s, and the traveling salesman problem (the shortest path that begins and ends at the same vertex and visits each edge exactly once), which continues to attract…
Read More
Two well-known examples are the Chinese postman problem (the shortest path that visits each edge at least once), which was solved in the 1960s, and the traveling salesman problem (the shortest path that begins and ends at the same vertex and visits each edge exactly once), which continues to attract…
Read More