Crossword clues for heuristic
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Heuristic \Heu*ris"tic\ (h[-u]*r[i^]s"t[i^]k), n.
A heuristic method; a specific heuristic procedure.
A theory or approach which serves to promote discovery or learning by encouraging experimentation.
Heuristic \Heu*ris"tic\ (h[-u]*r[i^]s"t[i^]k), a. [Gr. e"yri`skein to discover.]
Serving to promote discovery or learning; -- used especially of thories or paradigms which stimulate new ideas for discovering facts in experimental sciences.
Serving to stimulate people to learn and discover on their own, especially by encouraging experimental and trial-and-error methods for solving problems.
Pertaining to or based on trial-and-error and experimental methods of learning and evaluation.
(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.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"serving to discover or find out," 1821, irregular formation from Greek heuretikos "inventive," related to heuriskein "to find" (from PIE *were- (2) "to find;" cognate with Old Irish fuar "I have found") + -istic. As a noun, from 1860.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Relating to general strategy or methods for solving problems. 2 (context computing of a method or algorithm English) that solves a problem more quickly but is not certain to arrive at an optimal solution. n. 1 A heuristic method. 2 The art of applying heuristic methods.
WordNet
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]
Wikipedia
A heuristic technique (; , "find" or "discover"), often called simply a heuristic, is any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect, but sufficient for the immediate goals. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic methods can be used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution. Heuristics can be mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Examples of this method include using a rule of thumb, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, stereotyping, profiling, or common sense.
In engineering, heuristics are experience-based methods used to reduce the need for calculations pertaining to equipment size, performance, or operating conditions. Heuristics are fallible and do not guarantee a correct solution. It is important to understand their limitations when applying them to different equipment and processes. Though heuristics are limited, they may be of value. This is because they offer time-saving approximations in preliminary process design.
Problem solving methods are intrinsic to forensic engineering methods, where failures are analysed for the root cause or causes. Only when failures have been investigated with conclusive results can remedial action be taken with confidence.
In computer science, artificial intelligence, and mathematical optimization, a heuristic is a technique designed for solving a problem more quickly when classic methods are too slow, or for finding an approximate solution when classic methods fail to find any exact solution. This is achieved by trading optimality, completeness, accuracy, or precision for speed. In a way, it can be considered a shortcut.
A heuristic function, also called simply a heuristic, is a function that ranks alternatives in search algorithms at each branching step based on available information to decide which branch to follow. For example, it may approximate the exact solution.
A heuristic is a method for solving a problem.
Heuristic may also refer to:
- Heuristic (computer science), a technique to produce a solution in a reasonable time frame that is good enough for solving the problem at hand
- Heuristic (engineering), an experience-based method reducing use of calculations
- Heuristic algorithm, a computer program for making a determination
- Heuristics in judgment and decision making discovered by research in psychology and behavioral economics
- Heuristic argument, a non-rigorous argument that relies on an analogy or intuition
- Heuristic function, a ranking method used with search algorithms
Usage examples of "heuristic".
At intervals, heuristic nets hung from the high ceiling, but they were empty.
I believe they are transferred to the heuristic nets for final somata-honing.
They heard the warning from Jura then and, leaving their speculation pooled with the heuristic net in the ruddy light of the lab-orb, headed for the door.
Then she spotted the heuristic net that had come loose from its ceiling moorings and went over to pick it up.
Sahor could see the bits of dried blood and bone that had not yet been absorbed by the semi-sentient heuristic computer network.
He was disgusted at what he saw: the coffinlike biochambers, more heuristic nets hung from the ceiling like ominous webs.
She broke away from him, spread her wings, and, lofted into the dense, stultifying atmosphere of the lab-orb, returned the defective heuristic net to its circuit clamps high above his head.
Progress has been made, most particularly in the area of pattern recognition, which some bionicists and heuristic programmers feel may well be at the heart of human thought and intelligence.
Among the striking developments are the learning machines such as the perceptrons and the heuristic programs for playing games, proving mathematical theorems, analyzing geometrical figures.
While this approach has only dealt so far with simple problems, it seems, nonetheless, to many, to be far more promising than bionics or heuristic programming.
The techniques included mnemonic treatments, info implants, subliminal tutelary programs, and heuristic regimens.
I know, a certain large quantity of parallel-processed on-off switches in heuristic conformations.
Sensualism, therefore, at least as a regulative hypothesis, if not as a heuristic principle.
I thought of all the experimental, heuristic, and botched compositions that kept him company over long years, and how, whatever the orchestration, form, choice of language, all pieces amounted to love songs, not just to a lost woman, but to a world whose pattern he could not help wanting to save.
Knowing that she was a heuristic construct, refined by feedback through measuring his pupillary dilation, did not make the longing less.