Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Problem

Prob′lem (prŏb′lĕm), n. [F. problème, L. problema, fr. Gr. πρόβλημα anything thrown forward, a question proposed for solution, fr. προβάλλειν to throw or lay before; πρό before, forward + βάλλειν to throw. Cf. Parable. ]

1. 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. Bacon.

2. (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.

☞ 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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.