pons asinorum

American  

[as-uh-nawr-uhm, -nohr-] / ˌæs əˈnɔr əm, -ˈnoʊr- /

noun

Geometry.

1. a geometric proposition that if a triangle has two of its sides equal, the angles opposite these sides are also equal: so named from the difficulty experienced by beginners in mastering it. Euclid, 1:5.

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pons asinorum British  

/ ˌæsɪˈnɔːrəm /

noun

1. the geometric proposition that the angles opposite the two equal sides of an isosceles triangle are equal

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Etymology

Origin of pons asinorum

First recorded in 1745–55; from Latin pōns asinōrum “bridge of asses”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pons asinorum

A month or two ago you blundered on "pons asinorum."

From Time Magazine Archive

The pons asinorum is free to all comers and even the eternal triangle's points are true for either hemisphere.

From Time Magazine Archive

—If a logical mind ever found out anything with its logic?—I should say that its most frequent work was to build a pons asinorum over chasms that shrewd people can bestride without such a structure.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 01, November, 1857 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

I asked, with a scornful laugh; 'why, that's a mere pons asinorum!

From San-Cravate; or, The Messengers; Little Streams by Charles Paul de Kock

But we will not now traverse the ethical pons asinorum of necessity—the most simple and evident of mortal truths, and the most darkened, tortured, and belabored by moral teachers.

From Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers Reprinted From an English Work, Entitled "Half-Hours With The Freethinkers." by Charles Bradlaugh