The question of whether a solution to a given problem exists. The existence problem can be solved in the affirmative without actually finding a solution to the original problem. Such a demonstration is said to be nonconstructive, and is called a nonconstructive proof or an existence proof.

See also

Constructive Proof, Enumeration Problem, Existence, Existence Theorem, Nonconstructive Proof, Picard's Existence Theorem, Proof

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References

Gardner, M. The Sixth Book of Mathematical Games from Scientific American. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p. 22, 1984.Richman, F. "Existence Proofs." Amer. Math. Monthly 106, 303-308, 1999.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Existence Problem

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Existence Problem." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ExistenceProblem.html

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