Brute force may refer to any of several problem-solving methods involving the evaluation of multiple (or every) possible answer(s) for fitness. The term has also been used as a stage name, book title, etc.
In mathematics:
- A problem solving technique where a series of possible answers are worked out and each possibility is tested for accuracy. This technique is particularly useful on multiple choice problems.
- A problem solving technique using workaround methods such as scale diagrams instead of conventional algebra.
- Proof by exhaustion or brute force method, a method of mathematical proof
Non-mathematical problem-solving methods:
- Brute-force search, a trivial computer problem-solving technique
- Brute-force attack, a method of defeating a cryptographic scheme by trying a large number of possibilities
Media and entertainment:
- Brute Force (musician), the stage name of Stephen Friedland
- Brute Force (book), a controversial work by historian John Ellis
- Brute Force (1914 film), starring Harry Carey
- Brute Force (1947 film), starring Burt Lancaster
- Brute Force (video game), a video game
- Brute Force (comics), Simon Furman’s comic about super-intelligent cyborg animals saving the environment
Famous quotes containing the words brute and/or force:
“All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called “facts.” They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain. Who does not know fellows that always have an ill-conditioned fact or two that they lead after them into decent company like so many bull-dogs, ready to let them slip at every ingenious suggestion, or convenient generalization, or pleasant fancy? I allow no “facts” at this table.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)
“Throwing open the door, she brings forth the veritable queen of all the souffles, that spreads its archangelic wings over the entire kitchen as it leaps upwards from the dish in which the force of gravity alone confines it.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)