Sally is enrolled in a high school geometry course, which she describes as "drawing figures and figuring drawings." In a typical class, students draw geometric figures and use a formula to calculate an aspect of the figure such as its area. Each time Sally uses a formula she is making use of what psychologists call __________

A) heuristics.
B) logarithms.
C) algorithms.
D) convergence.

Algorithms

A set of rules or a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or completing a task, often used by computers.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that simplify decision making or problem-solving processes, often at the cost of accuracy or completeness.

Logarithms

Mathematical operations that are the inverse of exponentiation, determining the power to which a base must be raised to obtain a particular number.