Heuristic

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Heuristic (originally known as heuristic approach, heuristic method, or heuristic technique; from Greek εὑρίσκω: to find, discover) is any approach, technique, and/or practice that utilizes one or more experiments to discover knowledge and/or to solve a problem.

Heuristics are often used in situations when finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical. The result and, especially, the process of achieving this result may or may not be optimal, perfect, or rational, but, instead, sufficient for a satisfactory solution. Heuristics can be mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision.[1]:94 Examples that employ heuristics include using a rule of thumb, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, a guesstimate, profiling, or common sense.

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