Heuristic
Domain: Algorithms
🎯 Motivation
A rule of thumb that guides search toward promising solutions. Not guaranteed optimal, but practical. The heart of A* and greedy algorithms.
📋 Concrete Example
In A* pathfinding, the heuristic ‘straight-line distance to goal’ guides the search. It is not the actual road distance, but it points in the right direction.
🔗 Analogy
A hiker estimating ‘the summit is that way, uphill’ — not a precise route, but a useful guide. The hiker follows the heuristic and adjusts as they go.