heuristic

American  

[hyoo-ris-tik, yoo-] / hyʊˈrɪs tɪk, yʊ- /

adjective

1. serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.

2. encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems independently, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error.

   The course uses a heuristic teaching method to allow students to find answers without being directly taught.

3. of, relating to, or based on experimentation, evaluation, or trial-and-error methods.

4. Computers, Mathematics. pertaining to a trial-and-error method of problem solving used when an algorithmic approach is impractical.

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noun

1. a heuristic method of argument.

2. the study of heuristic procedure.

heuristic British  

/ hjʊəˈrɪstɪk /

adjective

1. helping to learn; guiding in discovery or investigation

2. (of a method of teaching) allowing pupils to learn things for themselves

3. 1. maths science philosophy using or obtained by exploration of possibilities rather than by following set rules

   2. computing denoting a rule of thumb for solving a problem without the exhaustive application of an algorithm

      a heuristic solution

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noun

1. (plural) the science of heuristic procedure

Other Word Forms

• heuristically adverb
• nonheuristic adjective
• unheuristic adjective
• unheuristically adverb

Etymology

Origin of heuristic

First recorded in 1815–25; from New Latin heuristicus, equivalent to Greek heur(ískein) “to find out, discover” + Latin -isticus -istic

Example Sentences

They use “heuristics” that humans evolved for making snap decisions but that can mislead them at other times.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Merton share is just a heuristic, but the main point is that investors should have a simple, rules-based framework in mind when thinking about sizing.

From Barron's

It operates automatically and effortlessly through heuristic shortcuts.

From Salon

When we rely on meritocracies — when we tell ourselves that we’re capable of judging merit "objectively," whatever that might mean — bias and heuristics inevitably come into play.

From Salon

To use the editor, one uploads a dataset to Umwelt, which employs heuristics to automatically creates default representations in each modality.

From Science Daily