Porism

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Porism \Po"rism\, n. [Gr. ? a thing procured, a deduction from a
     demonstration, fr. ? to bring, provide: cf. F. porisme.]
     1. (Geom.) A proposition affirming the possibility of finding
        such conditions as will render a certain determinate
        problem indeterminate or capable of innumerable solutions.
        --Playfair.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Gr. Geom.) A corollary. --Brande & C.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Three books of porisms of Euclid have been lost, but
           several attempts to determine the nature of these
           propositions and to restore them have been made by
           modern geometers.
           [1913 Webster] Porismatic