RULEOFTHUMB

Rule of thumb

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.

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rule of thumb

Noun

  1. A general guideline, rather than a strict rule; an approximate measure or means of reckoning based on experience or common knowledge.
    The usual rule of thumb says that to calculate when an investment will double, divide 70 by the interest rate.
  2. Approximated, guesstimated.
    I made a quick, rule-of-thumb estimate of the manhours required for the job.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: rule of thumb
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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