Pons asinorum
Pons asinorum
The literal meaning of the Latin expression, asses’ bridge, has been figuratively applied to a diagram constructed by Petrus Tartaretus about 1480, whose purpose was to aid the student of logic in finding the middle term of a syllogism and disclose its relations. It was assumed that it was as difficult to persuade students to do this as to get asses to pass over a bridge. Hence the expression has also been applied to any relatively easy test. Euclids proposition, that if two sides of a triangle are equal the angles opposite to those sides must also be equal, has been called a pons asinorum for students of geometry — J.J.R.