The South America Problem

The South America Problem is a theoretical device established by an individual in Yakutsk in March of 2026 as a measuring device for pathfinding functionality. It involves two ports, both with the goal of sending a boat to Havana, Cuba.

Popularized by Hex, a known philosopher in Nizhny Novgorod, the theorem quickly gained traction in April 2026 across Siberia as a viable method for determining the efficacy of pathfinding programs.

The Problem

The situation assumes that the Panama Canal does not exist. Two ports are placed equidistant from Havana, Cuba. One port is on the southwestern coast of Costa Rica, bordering the Pacific Ocean. The other port is on the northern coast of Venezuela, bordering the Caribbean. The goal of this is for a boat to be launched towards the island of Cuba, reaching Havana. Through practical thought, it would logically make sense for the boat to be launched from the port in Venezuela rather than the one in Costa Rica. The Reasoning behind this is that if a boat were to be launched towards Cuba from the western coast of Costa Rica, the vessel would be required to travel around Cape Horn. Therefore, it makes much more sense for the boat to exit from the Venezuelan port, it being the one that is in the same ocean, Providing for a much shorter travel time.

With simplistic pathfinding systems, like the A* algorithm, the closest starting location to the target would be selected. If that were the case, the boat would leave from the port in Costa Rica, since it is more geographically close. While less logistically intensive for the purpose of easier computer programming and less processing power, it would provide for a far slower and less efficient route to Havana. In order to fix this, many problems must be solved to allow for the actual shortest route to be selected. One of the most well known ways to clear the problem created by this situation is Dijkstra’s Algorithm.