Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

heuristic

 
Dictionary: heu·ris·tic   (hyʊ-rĭs'tĭk) pronunciation
adj.
  1. Of or relating to a usually speculative formulation serving as a guide in the investigation or solution of a problem: "The historian discovers the past by the judicious use of such a heuristic device as the 'ideal type'" (Karl J. Weintraub).
  2. Of or constituting an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student.
  3. Computer Science. Relating to or using a problem-solving technique in which the most appropriate solution of several found by alternative methods is selected at successive stages of a program for use in the next step of the program.
n.
  1. A heuristic method or process.
  2. heuristics (used with a sing. verb) The study and application of heuristic methods and processes.

[From Greek heuriskein, to find.]

heuristically heu·ris'ti·cal·ly adv.

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Statistics Dictionary: heuristic
Top

A general recommendation based on statistical evidence. For example, 'Smoking may severely damage your health'.



A method of problem solving using exploration and trial and error methods. Heuristic program design provides a framework for solving a problem in contrast with a fixed set of rules (algorithmic) that cannot vary.

Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your iPhone/iTouch

Business Dictionary: Heuristic
Top

Method of solving problems that involves intelligent trial and error, such as playing chess. By contrast, an algorithmic solution method is a clearly specified procedure that is guaranteed to give the correct answer. See also Algorithm.

Geography Dictionary: heuristic
Top

In computers and computerized problem-solving exercises, based on trial and error; in education, describing the technique of learning by the ‘discovery method’.

Philosophy Dictionary: heuristic
Top

A process, such as trial and error, for solving a problem for which no algorithm exists. A heuristic for a problem is a rule or method for approaching a solution.

Archaeology Dictionary: heuristic
Top

[Th]

A set of activities that are designed to throw up fresh ideas, new ways of looking at things, or alternative explanations of observed phenomena, as a prelude to the formulation of new propositions and theories. Some experimental archaeology and a great deal of ethnoarchaeology is heuristic.

Veterinary Dictionary: heuristic
Top

Encouraging or promoting investigation; conducive to discovery.

Obscure Words: heuristic
Top


of or relating to exploratory problem-solving methods that utilize self-educating techniques to improve performance
Wikipedia: Heuristic algorithm
Top

In computer science, a heuristic algorithm, or simply a heuristic, is an algorithm that is able to produce an acceptable solution to a problem in many practical scenarios, in the fashion of a general heuristic, but for which there is no formal proof of its correctness. Alternatively, it may be correct, but may not be proven to produce an optimal solution, or to use reasonable resources. Heuristics are typically used when there is no known method to find an optimal solution, under the given constraints (of time, space etc.) or at all.

Two fundamental goals in computer science are finding algorithms with provably good run times and with provably good or optimal solution quality. A heuristic is an algorithm that abandons one or both of these goals; for example, it usually finds pretty good solutions, but there is no proof the solutions could not get arbitrarily bad; or it usually runs reasonably quickly, but there is no argument that this will always be the case.

For instance, say you are packing odd-shaped items into a box. Finding a perfect solution is a hard problem: there is no known way to do it that is significantly faster than trying every possible way of packing them. What most people do, then, is "put the largest items in first, then fit the smaller items into the spaces left around them." This will not necessarily be perfect packing, but it will usually give a packing that is pretty good. It is an example of a heuristic solution.

Several heuristic methods are used by antivirus software to detect viruses and other malware.

Judea Pearl states that heuristic methods are based upon intelligent search strategies for computer problem solving, using several alternative approaches[1].

Often, one can find specially crafted problem instances where the heuristic will in fact produce very bad results or run very slowly; however, such pathological instances might never occur in practice because of their special structure. Therefore, the use of heuristics is very common in real world implementations. For many practical problems, a heuristic algorithm may be the only way to get good solutions in a reasonable amount of time. There is a class of general heuristic strategies called metaheuristics, which often use randomized search for example. They can be applied to a wide range of problems, but good performance is never guaranteed.

See also

References

  1. ^ Pearl, Judea (April 1984). Heuristics. Addison-Wesley Pub. ISBN 0201055945. 

Translations: Heuristic
Top

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - heuristisk
n. - heuristik

Nederlands (Dutch)
methodische studieleer, methode van vallen en opstaan (computer), door methodische studieleer (be)geleid

Français (French)
adj. - heuristique
n. - heuristique

Deutsch (German)
n. - heuristische Methode
adj. - heuristisch

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ευρετική (μέθοδος αυτοδιδαχής)
adj. - διερευνητικός, βολιδοσκοπικός

Italiano (Italian)
euristico

Português (Portuguese)
n. - heurística (f)
adj. - heurístico

Русский (Russian)
эвристический

Español (Spanish)
adj. - heurístico
n. - método heurístico

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (pl.) heuristik (läran om metoderna att finna nya vetenskapliga resultat)
adj. - heuristisk (logik. el. ped.)

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
启发式的, 尝试错误的, 探索的, 启发式教育法

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 啟發式的, 嘗試錯誤的, 探索的
n. - 啟發式教育法

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 스스로 발견하게 하는, 발견을 돕는
n. - 발견적 교수법

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 自分で発見させる, 発見に役立つ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الموجه أو المساعد على الكشف, المشجع للطالب على اكتشاف الاشياء بنفسه (صفه) موجه أو مساعد على الكشف, مشجع للطالب على اكتشاف الاشياء بنفسه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מסייע במציאת פתרון, מדע ההליכים ההיוריסטיים, הליך היוריסטי, (מחשבים) מתקדם לקראת פתרון ע"י ניסוי וטעייה‬
n. - ‮מדע ההליכים ההיוריסטיים, הליך היוריסטי‬


Best of the Web: heuristic
Top

Some good "heuristic" pages on the web:


Math
mathworld.wolfram.com
 
 
 
Learn More
conceptual modeling (computer science)
adaptive environmental management
dynamic algorithm (computer science)

What does heuristic mean? Read answer...
What is the meaning of heuristic? Read answer...
Is a heuristic is an algorithm? Read answer...

Help us answer these
What is heuristic model?
Heuristics and paradigms?
What is heuristic optimization?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Statistics Dictionary. A Dictionary of Statistics. Second edition revised. Copyright © Oxford University Press, 2008. All rights reserved.  Read more
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. THIS COPYRIGHTED DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
© 1981-2009 Computer Language Company Inc.  All rights reserved.  Read more
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Geography Dictionary. A Dictionary of Geography. Copyright © Susan Mayhew 1992, 1997, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Philosophy Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Heuristic algorithm" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more