heu·ris·tic
Definition:
: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods
Example:
“There are two basic mechanisms involved in picking up new words. First there is the heuristic approach, in which the child is able to infer the meaning of a word when it is spoken by relying on external cues, such as following the gaze of the speaker – or having the object described by the word pointed out to them…” — Jennifer Ouellette, ScientificAmerican.com, August 6, 2013
About the Word:
Heuristic methods help solve problems (as when the evaluation of feedback improves performance in a heuristic computer program).
This investigative approach to problem solving is found in the ancestry of heuristic: the Greek heuriskein “to discover” shares a common ancestor with the Old Irish fuar, meaning “I have found.”
1heu·ris·tic
adjective \hyu̇–ˈris-tik\
: using experience to learn and improve
: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods <heuristic techniques> <a heuristic assumption>; also : of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance <a heuristic computer program>
— heu·ris·ti·cal·ly adverb
Examples of HEURISTIC
- If Orbitz prevails, its online reservation process alone may blow away the competition. Unlike mainframe-based systems … , Orbitz uses racks of PCs to search fare data, making it easier to scale up computing power. And its intelligent … algorithms evaluate all the possible fares simultaneously instead of employing heuristic shortcuts designed to use as little computing power as possible. —Evan Ratliff, WIRED, September 2000
- Because “tradition” has served as a powerful heuristic term, we are always in danger of reifying it … —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Reading Black, Reading Feminist, 1990
- Its heuristic principle would be St. Augustine’s axiom that the Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New concealed in the Old … —V. B. Leitch, American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties, 1988
Origin of HEURISTIC
German heuristisch, from New Latin heuristicus, from Greek heuriskein to discover; akin to Old Irish fo-fúair he found
First Known Use: 1821
2heu·ris·tic
noun \hyu̇–ˈris-tik\
1
: the study or practice of heuristic (see 1heuristic) procedure
3
: a heuristic (see 1heuristic) method or procedure
Examples of HEURISTIC
- “Cult” is best understood not as a descriptor, but as a command, like a law officer’s “Halt!” Its purpose is to stop and contain. A more useful heuristic would be to identify precisely the most disturbing practices, beliefs, or incidents in the world of a “cult” … —Robert A. Orsi, Commonweal6 Oct. 2000
- Search engines … use heuristics to determine the way in which to order—and thereby prioritize—pages. —Soumen Chakrabarti et al., Scientific American, June 1999
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heuristic
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