Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The Traveling Moose # 6


I was reminded of the  traveling salesman problem (TSP) in an unlikely context, thanks to a display at the New York State Museum in Albany (click on image for better view). The display showed the zigzagging journeys made not by a salesman, but a radio collared moose, simply called #6. The moose seems to have traveled a lot, but the explanatory note on the display said otherwise: "Most New York moose have settled into limited travel routines...From February 1998 to November 2000 radio-collared moose #6 ranged over 350 square kilometers (217 square miles) east of Great Sacandaga Lake."