Heuristic

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Heuristic \Heu*ris"tic\ (h[-u]*r[i^]s"t[i^]k), a. [Gr.
     e"yri`skein to discover.]
     1. Serving to promote discovery or learning; -- used
        especially of thories or paradigms which stimulate new
        ideas for discovering facts in experimental sciences.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]


  
     2. Serving to stimulate people to learn and discover on their
        own, especially by encouraging experimental and
        trial-and-error methods for solving problems.
        [PJC]
  
     3. Pertaining to or based on trial-and-error and experimental
        methods of learning and evaluation.
        [PJC]
  
     4. (Computers) Based on the use of an efficient trial-and
        error method to search a space of possible solutions to a
        problem, or to find an acceptable approximate solution,
        when an exact algorithmic method is unavailable or too
        time-consuming.
        [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Heuristic \Heu*ris"tic\ (h[-u]*r[i^]s"t[i^]k), n.
     1. A heuristic method; a specific heuristic procedure.
        [PJC]
  
     2. A theory or approach which serves to promote discovery or
        learning by encouraging experimentation.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  heuristic
       adj : of or relating to or using a general formulation that serves
             to guide investigation [ant: {algorithmic}]
       n : a commonsense rule (or set of rules) intended to increase
           the probability of solving some problem [syn: {heuristic
           rule}, {heuristic program}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  34 Moby Thesaurus words for "heuristic":
     analytic, cut-and-try, empirical, examinational, examinatorial,
     examining, experimental, explorational, explorative, exploratory,
     fact-finding, feeling, groping, hit-or-miss, indagative,
     inspectional, inspectorial, investigational, investigative,
     investigatory, pilot, probationary, probative, probatory, proving,
     provisional, tentative, test, testing, trial, trial-and-error,
     trying, verificatory, zetetic
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  heuristic
       
          1.  A rule of thumb, simplification, or educated
          guess that reduces or limits the search for solutions in
          domains that are difficult and poorly understood.  Unlike
          {algorithms}, heuristics do not guarantee optimal, or even
          {feasible}, solutions and are often used with no theoretical
          guarantee.
       
          2.  {approximation algorithm}.
       
          (2001-04-12)