Starting in Delaware, you must tour the 48 contiguous United States, visiting each state exactly once.

In which state will you finish?

Not stated in the problem is the exclusion of maritime borders of the contiguous United States. In the exclusion of maritime borders, Maine is the only solution to the given tour.

The distance recognized of a State's maritime boundary varies due to each State's own constitutional boundary before it was admitted to the Union. The majority of States have a three nautical mile limit, though some of the States have an extended limit. The national maritime boundaries are shaped by international treaties, but are generally, for the USA, twelve nautical miles from land. The relative short distances do not appear to alter the States shared borders, thus the maritime boundaries should have no effect on the solution.  

Edited on August 23, 2015, 11:55 am

Posted by Dej Mar on 2015-08-22 13:08:05