heuristic
serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.
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.
of, relating to, or based on experimentation, evaluation, or trial-and-error methods.
Computers, Mathematics. pertaining to a trial-and-error method of problem solving used when an algorithmic approach is impractical.
a heuristic method of argument.
the study of heuristic procedure.
Origin of heuristic
1Other words from heuristic
- heu·ris·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- non·heu·ris·tic, adjective
- un·heu·ris·tic, adjective
- un·heu·ris·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Words Nearby heuristic
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use heuristic in a sentence
Racial identity is often a key heuristic that helps people interpret facts, says Britt Paris, an assistant professor of library and information science at Rutgers University.
These links were themselves selected from posts most upvoted on the social media website Reddit, as “a heuristic indicator for whether other users found the link interesting, educational, or just funny.”
Simple heuristics are used to filter questions from the query stream.
Could Google passage indexing be leveraging BERT? | Dawn Anderson | October 29, 2020 | Search Engine LandIt’s a facet of the “availability heuristic,” a cognitive bias that means people are more likely to imagine the future through the lens of recent events.
Humanity is stuck in short-term thinking. Here’s how we escape. | Katie McLean | October 21, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewYou can make some use rule-based AI, which guides the character using simple heuristics—if this happens, then do that.
A VR film/game with AI characters can be different every time you watch or play | Will Heaven | October 2, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
The hill becomes heuristic for national identity (a haunted City on a Hill).
He developed a heuristic for betting on Daily Doubles (which resulted in a wager of $5, the minimum allowed).
How I Taught Arthur Chu to Be the ‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Everyone Loves to Hate | Keith Williams | February 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn all other cases, as we have already pointed out, assumption and probability have only a heuristic value for us lawyers.
Criminal Psychology | Hans GrossThe instruments of heuristic are being continually perfected, before our eyes, in two ways.
Introduction to the Study of History | Charles V. LangloisBut the imperfection of the modern instruments of heuristic is quite unnecessary.
Introduction to the Study of History | Charles V. LangloisIt complemented the heuristic, innate propensity for seeking new choices.
The Civilization of Illiteracy | Mihai NadinThe teaching, which follows the so-called “heuristic” method, and the equipment of schools of every description, are admirable.
British Dictionary definitions for heuristic
/ (hjʊəˈrɪstɪk) /
helping to learn; guiding in discovery or investigation
(of a method of teaching) allowing pupils to learn things for themselves
maths science philosophy using or obtained by exploration of possibilities rather than by following set rules
computing denoting a rule of thumb for solving a problem without the exhaustive application of an algorithm: a heuristic solution
(plural) the science of heuristic procedure
Origin of heuristic
1Derived forms of heuristic
- heuristically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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