7
$\begingroup$

I was watching the Turkish version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and they asked this question:

What field is the Donkey Case (or I guess it can be translated as Donkey Theorem) related to?

The correct answer was Mathematics. I've never heard of it. What is it?

  • 5
    The very first Google hit for "Donkey theorem" is http://regentsprep.org/Regents/math/geometry/GP4/Ltriangles.htm . It apparently refers to angle-side-side (ASS) congruence.2011-09-20
  • 0
    LOL! + lorem ipsum, lorem ipsum (to meet the minimum character count requirement - bah!)2011-09-20
  • 8
    So long ago, I had forgotten. Ass is another word in English for Donkey, so Qiaochu has it. So, in church, they would say "riding on an ass," but the geometry teacher tried to avoid saying Ass because it also refers to the human posterior(in England probably Arse). Also it is not a theorem, it is false, so all comes full circle. Lord, I'm old.2011-09-20
  • 4
    @Qiaochu Regardless of the first Google hit for Donkey Theorem, I do not believe that the ASS theorem is the right reference. The pons asinorum theorem of Euclid that an isoceles triangle has two equal angles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pons_asinorum) is one possibility; another is the triangle inequality in Euclid's Book I. Some of Euclid's contemporaries claimed that the triangle inequality did not require a proof because "even a donkey knows that the shortest path from A to B does not pass through a (non-collinear) point C"2011-09-20
  • 0
    Dilip, it is not so much about actual ancient history as it is about what the people providing questions for a modern popular television show might be thinking. The fact that Mehper suggests "Case" as the most natural translation really seems to support the idea of a special case that people sometimes, foolishly, believe can still be handled in the same manner. So having this be the donkey case in congruent triangles is very attractive.2011-09-24
  • 0
    Do Turkish geometry texts really include English puns? I think Dilip's guess is probably more likely. Is perhaps the turkish word translated here as "Case" also "Bridge"?2013-04-15

3 Answers 3