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15 March 2007

a Cry for Help from the Easter Bunny to the Dutch Power Cows

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Dear Dutch Power Cows,

I am the Easter Bunny, and I need your help!

Easter Sunday 2007 is 8 April, so I don't have much time.

In 1918, after assassinating the Tsar of Russia and his family, the Easter Bunny stole all their fabulous
Fabergé Easter eggs made of diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, pearls and gold.

I feel very bad about this, and now I want to give back 13 of the beautiful Fabergé eggs.

I have chosen 13 little girls and boys, who live in 13 different places, and I want to deliver the beautiful
Fabergé eggs to them on Easter.

I need to know The Shortest Possible Path from Easter Bunny Centre, to each house, and then back home again to Easter Bunny Centre.

Finding the Shortest Possible Path connecting 13 different places is a Very Hard Problem, and I'm just a Dumb Bunny who is not smart enough to find the Shortest Possible Path in time for Easter!

As you all know,

* the Earth is Flat

* the distance between any 2 points is a straight line

* all distances are measured in kilometers

* Easter Bunny Centre is at the origin (0, 0)

Here are the (x, y) coordinates of the houses of the 13 children:

child ............ x .......... y
==================================
Anna ....... -267.79 .... -083.96
Benjamin ... -826.03 .... +846.76
Carmen ..... +863.47 .... -416.76
David ...... -510.72 .... +450.21
Eloise ..... +905.16 .... -597.97
Freddy ..... +701.36 .... -691.47
Gemma ...... -653.85 .... -469.27
Hrothgar ... +460.26 .... +096.81
Imogen ..... -713.34 .... -706.31
Jacques .... +917.97 .... -016.04
Kiki ....... +344.47 .... +462.57
Leonhard ... +884.65 .... +164.46
Mimi ....... +061.24 .... -962.69
==================================

Here are examples of a Path Answer. small "e" stands for Easter Bunny Centre. The Easter Bunny only needs 2 decimal digits of precision.

Path .......... Length of Path
==============================
eABCDEFGHIJKLMe 87654321.09 km
eCMBJGFLAHEKDIe 45678901.23 km
==============================

Please help me! What is the Shortest Possible Path??? Don't make me hop all over the place and waste weeks of time. I need to deliver all 13
Fabergé eggs on Easter Sunday!

I have posted my problem on my blog for weeks, but NOBODY ON THE INTERNET has tried to solve it!!!

So now I am convinced that ONLY THE DUTCH POWER COWS have the skills, brains and computing power to help me. But time is running short! Help!

The Easter Bunny
Easter Bunny Centre

P.S. I hop to NL often, and I promise to buy 1 Giant Pizza, with your favorite toppings, at your favorite Pizzeria, for the DPCs who can solve my problem in time for Easter!

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