PROBLEM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Problem

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/prˈɑbləm/ Listen

noun

Problem n.

A question proposed for solution; a matter stated for examination or proof; hence, a matter difficult of solution or settlement; a doubtful case; a question involving doubt.

(Math.) Anything which is required to be done; as, in geometry, to bisect a line, to draw a perpendicular; or, in algebra, to find an unknown quantity. Note: Problem differs from theorem in this, that a problem is something to be done, as to bisect a triangle, to describe a circle, etc.; a theorem is something to be proved, as that all the angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles.

Plane problem (Geom.), a problem that can be solved by the use of the rule and compass.

Solid problem (Geom.), a problem requiring in its geometric solution the use of a conic section or higher curve.

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Etymology of 'Problem'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Problem" Quotes from Famous Books

... were the men most concerned in founding and framing our grand old commonwealth. They were men of faith, men of thorough culture, men of mark by birth and station, men who had learned to grapple with the great problem of human rights, human happiness, human needs, and human relations to heaven and earth. They believed in God, in the revelation of God, in the Gospel of Christ, in the responsibility of the soul to its Maker, and in the demands of a living charity toward God and all his creatures. And their ...

— Luther and the Reformation: - The Life-Springs of Our Liberties • Joseph A. Seiss

... the principle that the greater includes the less. The argument, however, omits the essential qualification that a part of the Irish population cannot be trusted. It is this additional difficulty which has been introduced into the problem of naval defence by the revival by politicians of the agitation of 1798, ...

— Against Home Rule (1912) - The Case for the Union • Various

... question around which the conflict of ages has been waged—the origin of evil. One thing in the answer of the Lord is fitted to pour a flood of comfort into our hearts when they are agitated by the difficulties of this tremendous problem,—"an enemy hath done this." Evil does not belong originally to the constitution of man, nor has God, his maker, introduced it. Our case is sad, indeed; for we learn that an enemy whom we cannot overcome is ever lying in wait seeking how he may devour us. ...

— The Parables of Our Lord • William Arnot

... problem of retaining Billy's love, of never staling the freshness of their feeling for each other and of never descending from the heights which at present they were treading, felt herself impelled toward Mrs. Higgins. SHE knew; surely she must know. Had she not hinted knowledge beyond ordinary ...

— The Valley of the Moon • Jack London

... some unexplained reason, she took the veil, and said good-bye to a wicked world. Like the hero in "Locksley Hall," Haydn may have asked himself, "What is that which I should do?" But Keller soon solved the problem for him. "Barbers are not the most diffident people of the world," as one of the race remarks in "Gil Blas," and Keller was assuredly not diffident. "Never mind," he said to Haydn, "you shall have the other." Haydn very likely did not want the other, but, recognizing with Dr Holmes's fashionable ...

— Haydn • J. Cuthbert Hadden

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