Heuristic Computing
- Many problems are not conducive to algorithmic solutions.
- Even if one understands the problem well enough, and possesses knowledge about the problem domain, and can construct an algorithm to solve the problem, the amount of computational resources (time or space) needed to execute the algorithm may be simply infeasible.
- From an evolutionary point of view, algorithms are not all there is to our ways of thinking. And so the question arises: what other computational means are at our disposal to perform such tasks? The answer is to resort to a mode of computing that deploys heuristics.
- Heuristics are rules, precepts, principles, hypotheses based on common sense, experience, judgement, analogies, informed guesses, etc., that offer promise but are not guaranteed to solve problems.
- Heuristic computing embodies a spirit of adventure!
- There is an element of uncertainty and the unknown in heuristic computing.
- A problem solving agent (a human being or a computer) looking for a heuristic solution to a problem is, in effect, in a kind of terra incognita. And just as someone in an unknown physical territory goes into exploration or search mode so also the heuristic agent: he, she, or it searches for a solution to the problem, in what computer scientists call a problem space, never quite sure that a solution will obtain.
- Thus one kind of heuristic computing is also called heuristic search.
- Many strategies, however, that deploy heuristics have all the characteristics of an algorithm—with one notable difference: they give only ‘nearly right’ answers for a problem, or they may only give correct answers to some instances of the problem.
- Computer scientists, thus, refer to some kinds of heuristic problem solving techniques as heuristic or approximate algorithms.
- The term ‘heuristic computing’ encompasses both heuristic search and heuristic algorithms.
39
40 reads
CURATED FROM
IDEAS CURATED BY
The idea is part of this collection:
Learn more about books with this collection
Why happiness is the ultimate goal
The importance of creating value
How to create wealth in the modern era
Related collections
Similar ideas to Heuristic Computing
Pursuing objectives can be problematic
Pursuing specific goals can be a hindrance to reaching those objectives.
Kenneth Stanley, a computer scientist, hoped to show that by following ideas in interesting directions, algorithms can produce a diversity of results and solve problems. Thus, ignoring an objective can get you to the s...
Shortcuts to smarter thinking
With time, our brains develop clever artifices to help solve common problems. These repeated concepts are called heuristics: algorithms, procedures or rules of thumb that simplify decision making.
When we rely on heuristics for making decisions and solving problems, we s...
Availability heuristic
Our brain likes to take shortcuts to solve a problem when normal methods are too slow to find a solution.
The problem with this approach is that frightening events are easier to recall than every-day events. We should be aware that alarmist news broadcasts don't help in an accurate sense o...
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates