A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination. Compare this to heuristic, a similar concept used in mathematical discourse, psychology, and computer science, particularly in algorithm design.
Read more about Rule Of Thumb: Origin of The Phrase, Thumb As Measurement Device, Thumb Used For Regulation, Examples of Usage
Famous quotes containing the words rule of, rule and/or thumb:
“Do I dare set forth here the most important, the most useful rule of all education? it is not to save time, but to squander it.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
“With our principles we seek to rule our habits with an iron hand, or to justify, honor, scold, or conceal them:Mtwo men with identical principles are likely to be seeking fundamentally different things with them.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Your small hands, precisely equal to my own—
only the thumb is larger, longer—in these hands
I could trust the world, or in many hands like these,
handling power-tools or steering-wheel
or touching a human face ...”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)