pigeonhole principle
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.20 in modern English
31
Scrabble Score
19
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The theorem which states that any partition of a finite set of n elements into m (< n) subsets (allowing empty subsets) must include a subset with two or more elements; any of certain reformulations concerning the partition of infinite sets where the cardinality of the unpartitioned set exceeds that of the partition (so there is no one-to-one correspondence).
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The pigeonhole principle is usually stated as follows. (16.43) If more than n pigeons are placed in n holes, at least one hole will contain more than one pigeon. The pigeonhole principle is obvious, and one may wonder what it has to do with computer science or mathematics."
- "1. κ is a regular cardinal. 2. If we put κ pigeons into λ < κ pigeonholes, then some pigeonhole must contain κ pigeons."
- "2012, Dov M. Gabbay, Akihiro Kanamori, John Woods (editors), Handbook of the History of Logic: Volume 6: Sets and Extensions in the Twentieth Century, Elevier (North-Holland), page 325, As we turn to look at various pigeonhole principles and how they are used to prove partition theorems, particularly for pairs, we keep in mind the slogan that is embedded in the Motzkin quote: complete disorder is impossible."
Etymology
From the commonly used expository example that if n+1 pigeons are placed in n pigeonholes, at least one pigeonhole must contain two (or more) pigeons.