An heuristic evaluation function is some form of guess at an intermediate state about the eventual outcome of a search. This is used in a heuristic search to act as a guide as to the best order to explore many different options. For example, whilst searching for shortest routes between places, we might use the Euclidean distance between two cities as a heuristic for the eventual shortest road distance well before we explore the potential routes between them.
Used on pages 63, 70, 71, 72, 78, 80, 81, 225, 228, 539
Also known as heuristic evaluation, heuristic information