pigeonhole principle
(redirected from Dirichlet's drawer principle)pigeonhole principle
[′pij·ən‚hōl ‚prin·sə·pəl] (mathematics)
The principle, that if a very large set of elements is partitioned into a small number of blocks, then at least one block contains a rather large number of elements. Also known as Dirichlet drawer principle.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.