Editing Heuristic argument

{{Refimprove|date=October 2007}}

A '''heuristic argument''' is an [[argument]] that reasons from the value of a method or principle that has been shown experimentally (especially through [[trial-and-error]]) to be useful or convincing in learning, discovery and [[problem-solving]], but whose line of reasoning involves key oversimplifications that make it not entirely rigorous.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/page.php?sort=Heuristic|title=Heuristic argument|website=The Prime Glossary|access-date=October 21, 2019}}</ref> A widely used and important example of a [[heuristic]] argument is [[Occam's Razor]].

It is a speculative, non-rigorous argument that relies on analogy or intuition, and that allows one to achieve a result or an approximation that is to be checked later with more rigor. Otherwise, the results are generally to be doubted. It is used as a hypothesis or a conjecture in an investigation, though it can also be used as a mnemonic as well.<ref name="BrodskyEllis1988">{{cite journal|last1=Brodsky|first1=Stanley J.|last2=Ellis|first2=John|last3=Karliner|first3=Marek|title=Chiral symmetry and the spin of the proton|journal=Physics Letters B|volume=206|issue=2|year=1988|pages=309–315|doi=10.1016/0370-2693(88)91511-0|bibcode=1988PhLB..206..309B |osti=1448514|url=http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-4519.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-4519.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Empirical relationship]]
*[[Heuristic]]
*[[Probabilistic method]]
*[[Rule of thumb]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Heuristics]]
[[Category:Rules of thumb]]

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