Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Nearby Entries
deterministic - 3 dictionary results

de⋅ter⋅min⋅ism

  [di-tur-muh-niz-uhm]
Use deterministic in a Sentence
–noun
1. the doctrine that all facts and events exemplify natural laws.
2. the doctrine that all events, including human choices and decisions, have sufficient causes.
Origin:
1840–50; determine + -ism

Related forms:
de⋅ter⋅min⋅ist, noun, adjective
de⋅ter⋅min⋅is⋅tic, adjective
de⋅ter⋅min⋅is⋅ti⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To deterministic
de·ter·min·ism   (dĭ-tûr'mə-nĭz'əm)   
n.  The philosophical doctrine that every state of affairs, including every human event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of antecedent states of affairs.
de·ter'min·ist n., de·ter'min·is'tic adj., de·ter'min·is'ti·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

deterministic
1. Describes a system whose time evolution can be predicted exactly.
Contrast probabilistic.
2. Describes an algorithm in which the correct next step depends only on the current state. This contrasts with an algorithm involving backtracking where at each point there may be several possible actions and no way to chose between them except by trying each one and backtracking if it fails.
(1995-09-22)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
Cite This Source
Search another word or see deterministic on Thesaurus | Reference