Pons Asinorum Definition

pŏnz ăsə-nôrəm
noun
A problem that severely tests the ability of an inexperienced person.
American Heritage
The fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid (that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal)
Webster's New World
Any problem hard for beginners.
Webster's New World

Origin of Pons Asinorum

  • New Latin pōns asinōrum bridge of fools (nickname of the Fifth Proposition in the Elements of Euclid, due to its difficulty) Latin pōns bridge Latin asinōrum genitive pl. of asinus ass, fool

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Pons Asinorum Sentence Examples

  • Political and ecclesiastical dissensions occupied the greatest intellects, and the only progress to be recorded is in the art of computing or arithmetic, and the trans pons asinorum of the earlier mathematicians.

  • The paradox of predication, that it seems to deny identity, or to deny difference, becomes a pons asinorum.

  • The aim of his logic is represented as having been the devising of rules for the discovery of syllogistic middle terms; this system for aiding slow-witted persons became known as the pons asinorum.

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Words Starting With

PPOPON

Words Ending With

MUMRUM

Unscrambles

pons asinorum

Words Starting With P and Ending With M

Starts With P & Ends With MStarts With PO & Ends With MStarts With P & Ends With UM

Word Length

13 Letter Words13 Letter Words Starting With P13 Letter Words Ending With M