heuristic

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.

adjective

1. helping to learn; guiding in discovery or investigation
2. (of a method of teaching) allowing pupils to learn things for themselves
3. 1. maths science philosophyusing or obtained by exploration of possibilities rather than by following set rules
   2. computingdenoting a rule of thumb for solving a problem without the exhaustive application of an algorithma heuristic solution

noun

4. (plural) the science of heuristic procedure