Heuristics

Next time you are stuck on a problem with many combinations and permutations to test, try using heuristics.

Heuristics are shortcuts for decision-making — an educated guess or rule of thumb. Be careful choosing one as they can be inaccurate or hold false assumptions. The heuristic “Avoid green vegetables” could make you miss out on tasty options.

A Greedy algorithm is an algorithm that uses the following heuristic: solve the problem sequentially and, at each step, make the best local decision. It might not lead to an optimal solution, but it will be good enough.