Talk:Pons asinorum

Quote source
This article quotes Aristotle "There is no royal road to geometry", but googling for the phrase in quotes provides many attributions to Euclid, not Aristotle.

Since the quote, however interesting, is not essential for explaining "Pons asinorum", the entire paragraph should be deleted.

No difference
Comparing triangle ABC to triangle ACB is comparing a thing to itself. D021317c 15:02, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, it just shows how good Pappus proof is. If you look in Elementa http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/bookI/propI5.html it looks 'more' complicated. When Pappus mirrors the triangle it becomes so obvious. It should be rewritten by someone that can write English


 * Not quite. When we assert that triangle ABC is congruent to triangle ACB, we are also asserting that the vertices correspond in the given order (A to A, B to C, and C to B). 98.240.230.81 (talk) 18:54, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

Um, if there were no difference, then all triangles would have two equal angles ... in fact, all triangles would be equiangular. -- 96.248.226.133 (talk) 23:53, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

Content fork
There is some duplication of material between this article and Theorem on isosceles triangles. Perhaps a merge is in order but I think there is a distinction between the mathematics of the theorem and the Latin phrase and it's meaning in culture. The other article should have the mathematical material and this article should have the non-mathematical.--RDBury (talk) 17:23, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

While reading this article a lengthy alliteration describing "separating daft from dalliers" or something of the sort struck me as particularly, needlessly, and un-tastefully pseudo-eloquent. Flowery, as it were, and tacky too. In a similar tone as this comment itself (but without my shameless deployment of sentence fragments). The ... aroma of the language was imprecise and not entirely good, like the smell of milk. (Which should not have much of one at all). I hope I've made my point. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.119.233.112 (talk) 09:28, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Original diagram of pons asinorum
I think this article should at least have a diagram of pons asinorum as done in Euclid. That is integral to the original meaning. It is not enough to point to another article which treats it as a mathematical proposition and solves it using a later method. In fact I think probably the whole original proof is notable in itself and not particularly for the final result. Dmcq (talk) 11:52, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, I'm planning to add a proof or two to the other article and it would be pointless to duplicate them here. Everything by Euclid has been hashed and rehashed for two millennia so there is a huge amount of material to sort through.--RDBury (talk) 14:35, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * There is Byrne Preface-15.gif picture in commons. I'd prefer a less gaudy one. Dmcq (talk) 15:21, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Merger proposal
Pons asinorum and Isosceles triangle theorem talk about the same theorem. Isosceles triangle theorem presents proofs, while Pons asinorum is more about the metaphorical use. I don't see why they have to be separate: since the articles are not very long, everything about this theorem (statement, history, proofs, etc...) could be in the same page until some sections become too long to justify sub-articles (for example, there isn't yet the page History of the Pythagorean theorem, because it's just fine for it to be in the main article: Pythagorean theorem). Chen10k2 (talk) 21:07, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
 * See my comment above under Content fork. Neither article is so stubby that it's a candidate for a merge because of article length. --RDBury (talk) 14:15, 12 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I agree that article length isn't a good reason for a merge in this case, but content is (both are on the same theorem). For this reason I have carried out the proposed merge. —David Eppstein (talk) 18:11, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

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Pronunciation
I’m not sure whether the pronunciation given for in Latin for the Latin term was supposed to be a narrow or a broad transcription. The transcription used /ʊ/ for short-u but /i/ for short-i. It didn’t specify if it was the Ecclesiastical pronunciation or classical pronunciation either. I regularized the transcription to a narrow classical transcription, but if a different change is needed, please comment.Nayrb Rellimer (talk) 00:14, 22 November 2018 (UTC)
 * My memories of the details of Latin pronounciation are shaky. Does the narrow classical transcription really end in a nasalized vowel rather than a consonant? So that (although Latin does not have such endings) -um, -un, and -ung would all be indistinguishable? No touching of closed lips (m), front of tongue to palette (n), nor back of tongue to palette (ng), just an open mouth? —David Eppstein (talk) 01:31, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Question about the name
The English name seems strange. If it means that people who can't grasp the proof are asses, and the proof is a bridge to the harder stuff, then how can it be a "bridge of asses" if asses can't "cross" it? Perhaps there's a subtlety in "Pons asinorum" which is lost in translation. Can any Latin experts comment? KevinBTheobald (talk) 22:20, 21 March 2020 (UTC)