(algorithmic technique)
Definition: An algorithm that usually, but not always, works or that gives nearly the right answer.
Specialization (... is a kind of me.)
move-to-front heuristic, Christofides algorithm, Monte Carlo algorithm.
See also metaheuristic, probabilistic algorithm, greedy algorithm.
Note: Some problems, such as the traveling salesman problem, may take far too long to compute an optimal solution. But some have good heuristics that are fast and find a solution no more than a few percent worse than the optimal.
Author: PEB
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul E. Black.
Entry modified Fri Feb 27 11:46:51 2004.
HTML page formatted Wed Oct 26 09:47:36 2005.
Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "heuristic", from
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data
Structures, Paul E. Black, ed.,
NIST.
http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/heuristic.html
