  The Schubert varieties on a flag manifold G/P give rise to a cell
decomposition on G/P whose Kronecker duals, known as the Schubert classes on
G/P, form an additive base of the integral cohomology of G/P. The Schubert's
problem of characteristics asks to express a monomial in the Schubert classes
as a linear combination in the Schubert basis.
  We present a unified formula expressing the characteristics of a flag
manifold G/P as polynomials in the Cartan numbers of the group G. As
application we develop a direct approach to our recent works on the Schubert
presentation of the cohomology rings of flag manifolds G/P.
