Trials and tribulations of a newbee
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Bees can solve the “Travelling Salesman Problem”. The Travelling Salesman Problem(TSP) is as such: a salesman is given a list of cities and the salesman’s problem is to find the path with the shortest distance that visits all of the cities on the list.  It’s not that this isn’t possible, just that bees can solve it with their very tiny brains.

 

Flying Math: Bees Solve Traveling Salesman Problem

Bumblebees foraging in flowers for nectar are like salesmen traveling between towns: Both seek the optimal route to minimize their travel costs. Mathematicians call this the “traveling salesman problem,” in which scientists try to calculate the shortest possible route given a theoretical arrangement of cities. Bumblebees, however, take the brute-force approach.

Source: www.wired.com/2012/09/bumblebee-traveling-salesman/

 

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