I was reading about dijkstra algorithm and A* star algorithm. I know that the difference is the heuristic used. But what is a heuristic and how this influence the algorithms? Heuristic is just an way to measure the distance? But dijkstra considers the distance too? Sorry, but my question is about heuristic and what it means and why to use them... (I had read about it, but don't understant) Other question: When should be used each one?
Thank you
A heuristic basically means an idea or an intuition! Any strategy that you use to solve a hard problem is a heuristic! In some fields (like combinatorial problems) it refers to the strategy that can help you solve a NP hard problem suboptimally within a polynomial time.