goat grazing problem

noun

The problem: given a field of radius 1, and a goat tied to a point on the edge of said field; how long a rope should the goat be tied to, so that the goat has access to exactly half of the field? Equivalently: given a unit circle C and a point P on the rim of C, what is the value of r such that exactly half of the area within C, is within distance r of point P?

Meanings

noungoat grazing problem (plural goat grazing problems)

plural goat grazing problems

  1. The problem: given a field of radius 1, and a goat tied to a point on the edge of said field; how long a rope should the goat be tied to, so that the goat has access to exactly half of the field? Equivalently: given a unit circle C and a point P on the rim of C, what is the value of r such that exactly half of the area within C, is within distance r of point P?
  2. The same problem generalized to any number of dimensions: given a unit n-sphere (n-dimensional hypersphere) S, and a point P on the edge of S, what is r such that exactly one-half of the space (content) within S, is within distance r of P?

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
Cite this entry
APA

goat grazing problem. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goat%20grazing%20problem

MLA

“goat grazing problem.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goat%20grazing%20problem. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “goat grazing problem,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goat%20grazing%20problem.

Source: goat grazing problem on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.