23 May 2017
heuristic
[hyoo-ris-tik or, often, yoo-]
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 on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error:
a heuristic teaching method.
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.
noun
5. a heuristic method of argument.
6. the study of heuristic procedure.
Origin of heuristic
1815-1825; New Latin heuristicus, equivalent to Greek heur(ískein) to find out, discover + Latin -isticus -istic
Related forms
heuristically, adverb
nonheuristic, adjective
unheuristic, adjective
unheuristically, adverb
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for heuristic
Contemporary Examples
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 20, 2014
Historical Examples
My standpoint, moreover, requires me to admit the validity of the hypothesis of Descent as an heuristic maxim of natural science.
At the Deathbed of Darwinism
Eberhard Dennert
Is there any need to prove the capital importance of heuristic?
Introduction to the Study of History
Charles V. Langlois
And the aim is heuristic, though often enough the search ends in no overt positive conclusion.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 8
Various
In all other cases, as we have already pointed out, assumption and probability have only a heuristic value for us lawyers.
Criminal Psychology
Hans Gross
Over time, actions became simpler while languages acquired the complexity of the heuristic experience.
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai Nadin
The heuristic attempt to establish new patterns of human interaction through art reflects the uncertainty.
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai Nadin
A general hypothesis serves every special hypothesis as a heuristic principle.
International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume I
Various
Sensualism, therefore, at least as regulative hypothesis, if not as heuristic principle.
Beyond Good and Evil
Friedrich Nietzsche
The teaching, which follows the so-called “heuristic” method, and the equipment of schools of every description, are admirable.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 5
Various
Anagram
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Today’s quote
Everyone’s quick to blame the alien.
– Aeschylus
On this day
23 May 1568 – the Netherlands declares independence from Spain.
23 May 1934 – notorious bank robbers, Bonny Parker and Clyde Barrow, are killed in a shoot-out with police in Black Lake, Louisiana. Bonny and Clyde have been immortalised in songs and movies.
23 May 1944 – birth of John Newcombe, Australian tennis player.