Concept
Trial and Error
Creativity & Learning
Science & HealthWhat is trial and error?
Trial and error is a way of solving problems by trying one option after another and keeping what works until a solution is found. In the Agency editorial it is the engine of vertical thinking: the method by which science, programming and math connect dots, and by which a maze is solved from the inside.
In short
Trial and error is the oldest method of learning and problem solving: attempt, observe the result, discard what fails and repeat. Psychology associates it with Edward Thorndike, who studied how animals escape puzzle boxes. Design.0 names it twice. It defines vertical thinking as connecting dots in a linearity of logical information through trial and error, and it shows the method in a maze, where we walk the paths until we hit different walls.
Key facts
- What role does trial and error play in the article?
- It is the method of vertical, or logical, thinking. The article says that to think vertically means to connect dots in a linearity of logical information, through trial and error, where every conclusion comes after the previous one.
- How does the article illustrate trial and error?
- With a maze. Through vertical thinking we walk towards the different paths until we hit different walls, mapping, through trial and error, the final path to the exit.
- What does the article contrast trial and error with?
- With the lateral approach, which first breaks the pattern of what is trying to be achieved: instead of entering the maze, one walks around its external part until reaching the same goal.
What is trial and error?
Trial and error is a method of solving problems in which attempts are made one after another, failures are discarded and the attempt that works is kept. It needs no theory in advance, only the patience to test and to learn from each result. In psychology it is associated with the experiments of Edward Thorndike with animals in puzzle boxes, and it remains at the base of experimental science and of the practice of testing and debugging software.
How does trial and error appear in the Agency editorial?
Design.0 places trial and error inside vertical thinking. The article says that science, programming, with its bugs and debugging, and math work this way because their purpose is to build scalable and long-lasting logical structures in which every dot validates each other.
The maze example makes the method visible: the vertical thinker walks the different paths, hits different walls and maps the final path to the exit. The article does not dismiss the method. It sets it beside the lateral approach, which questions the pattern itself and walks around the maze.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
Also from these editions: concepts
Also from these editions: terms
Related terms
- Debuggingnoun
- The systematic identification, isolation, and correction of errors or faults within software or hardware systems.
- Mazenoun
- A complex network of interconnected paths, passages, or obstacles designed to puzzle and challenge navigation.
- scalableadjective
- Able to grow in size, volume or reach without losing its function or having to be rebuilt. Said of systems, structures and businesses.
Related concepts
- Lateral ThinkingLateral thinking is a deliberate creative problem-solving method that generates novel ideas by looking at scenarios from unorthodox angles and escaping traditional linear…
- Vertical ThinkingVertical thinking is a sequential, analytical cognitive approach that moves step-by-step toward a single logically validated solution based on established data and…