quadrature of the circle

American  

noun

Mathematics.

1. the insoluble problem of constructing, by the methods of Euclidean geometry, a square equal in area to a given circle.

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Etymology

Origin of quadrature of the circle

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

M. Bayle differed from M. Huet concerning the attempt to unite the different religions: he thinks it as great a chimera as the Philosophers stone, or the quadrature of the circle.

From The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius Containing a Copious and Circumstantial History of the Several Important and Honourable Negotiations in Which He Was Employed; together with a Critical Account of His Works by Burigny, Jean Lévesque de

When our Board of Longitude was in existence, most of its time was consumed in listening to schemes, many of which included the quadrature of the circle.

From A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I by Smith, David Eugene

Qu What do you mean by the quadrature of the circle?

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert

Nay, Aristotle would not have missed the quadrature of the circle, if only baleful conflicts had spared the books of the ancients, who knew all the methods of nature.

From The Love of Books The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury by Thomas, Ernest Chester

He also wrote a work on the quadrature of the circle, Histoire des recherches sur la Quadrature du Cercle, which appeared in 1754.

From A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I by Smith, David Eugene