Word.ws English Dictionary

fencepost problem

fencepost problem noun: a problem dealing with how to treat the initial or boundary values of a discrete problem.

Noun

fencepost problem (plural fencepost problems)

  1. A problem dealing with how to treat the initial or boundary values of a discrete problem.

Forms of fencepost problem

pluralfencepost problems

Origin of fencepost problem

By analogy with fence-building. If one wants to say "lay a fencepost, then a length of fence, then repeat", then a special case must be made for the final fencepost. If one wants to say "lay a length of fence, then a fencepost, then repeat", then a special case must be made for the initial fencepost.

Questions about fencepost problem

What does fencepost problem mean?
Fencepost problem means a problem dealing with how to treat the initial or boundary values of a discrete problem.
What part of speech is fencepost problem?
Fencepost problem is a noun.
What is the plural of fencepost problem?
The plural of fencepost problem is fencepost problems.

Words near fencepost problem in the dictionary

  1. fencepole
  2. fencepoles
  3. fencepost
  4. fencepost error
  5. fencepost errors
  6. fencepost problem
  7. fencepost problems
  8. fenceposts
  9. fencer
  10. fencerow
  11. fencerows

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fencepost problem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-fencepost problem.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fencepost problem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fencepost_problem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.