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

He was shown into the editor-colonel's pons asinorum.

From Options by O. Henry

An oath is the jurist's metaphysical pons asinorum, and like this should be used as seldom as ever possible.

From Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer

This axiom evidently expresses the symmetry of perpendicularity, and is the essence of the famous pons asinorum expressed as an axiom.

From The Concept of Nature The Tarner Lectures Delivered in Trinity College, November 1919 by Alfred North Whitehead