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Parameter definition

pə-rămĭ-tər
parameters
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Frequency:
Any constant, with variable values, used as a referent for determining other variables.
noun
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(math.) A quantity or constant whose value varies with the circumstances of its application, as the radius line of a group of concentric circles, which varies with the circle under consideration.
noun
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The definition of a paramater is a guideline, boundary or outer limit.

An example of parameter is a guideline in which an experiment is to take place.

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(geometry) In the ellipse and hyperbola, a third proportional to any diameter and its conjugate, or in the parabola, to any abscissa and the corresponding ordinate.

The parameter of the principal axis of a conic section is called the latus rectum.

noun
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(1) Any value passed to a program by the user or by another program in order to configure the program for a particular purpose. A parameter may be anything; for example, a file name, a coordinate, a range of values, a money amount or a code of some kind. Parameters may be required as in parameter-driven software (see below) or they may be optional. Parameters are often entered as a series of values following the program name when the program is loaded; for example, a DOS switch defines a parameter. In the command dir /p the /p is a parameter switch that means pause after every screenful.
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(usage problem) A distinguishing characteristic or feature.
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(statistics) A quantity, such as a mean, that is calculated from data and describes a population.
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(programming) A name in a function or subroutine definition that is replaced by, or bound to, the corresponding actual argument when the function or subroutine is called: a formal parameter.

Roughly, a tuple of arguments could be thought of as a vector, whereas a tuple of parameters could be thought of as a covector (i.e., linear functional). When a function is called, a parameter tuple becomes "bound" to an argument tuple, allowing the function instance itself to be computed to yield a return value. This would be roughly analogous to applying a covector to a vector (by taking their dot product (or, rather, matrix-product of row vector and column vect)) to obtain a scalar.

noun
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(programming) The value which is passed into the function to instantiate such a name; the argument or actual parameter.
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A characteristic or feature that distinguishes something from others.
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(crystallography) The ratio of the three crystallographic axes which determines the position of any plane.
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(crystallography) The fundamental axial ratio for a given species.
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A constant in an equation that varies in other equations of the same general form, especially such a constant in the equation of a curve or surface that can be varied to represent a family of curves or surfaces.
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One of a set of independent variables that express the coordinates of a point.
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One of a set of measurable factors, such as temperature and pressure, that define a system and determine its behavior and are varied in an experiment.
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(usage problem) A factor that restricts what is possible or what results.
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A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary.

An experimental school that keeps expanding the parameters of its curriculum.

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A boundary or limit.
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A factor or characteristic.
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(mathematics, physics) A variable kept constant during an experiment, calculation or similar.
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Alternative Forms

Alternative Form of parameter - parametre

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
parameter
Plural:
parameters

Origin of parameter

  • New Latin parametrum a line through the focus and parallel to the directrix of a conic Greek para- beside para–1 Greek metron measure –meter

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From French paramètre, from New Latin parametrum (“parameter"), from Ancient Greek παρά (para, “beside") + μέτρον (metron, “measure").

    From Wiktionary

Parameter Sentence Examples

  • Transmit antennas also have parameter - a maximum power rating.

  • It is to be noticed that the parameter c of the cylindroid is unaltered if the two pitches h, k be increased by equal amounts; the only change is that all the pitches are increased by the same amount.

  • The parameter which determines the variable curve may be given as a point upon a given curve, or say as a parametric point; that is, to the different positions of the parametric point on the given curve correspond the different variable curves, and the nature of the envelope will thus depend on that of the given curve; we have thus the envelope as a derivative curve of the given curve.

  • To develop the theory, consider the curve corresponding to any particular value of the parameter; this has with the consecutive curve (or curve belonging to the consecutive value of the parameter) a certain number of intersections and of common tangents, which may be considered as the tangents at the intersections; and the so-called envelope is the curve which is at the same time generated by the points of intersection and enveloped by the common tangents; we have thus a dual generation.

  • The conics are distinguished by the ratio between the latus rectum (which was originally called the latus erectum, and now often referred to as the parameter) and the segment of the ordinate intercepted between the diameter and the line joining the second vertex with the extremity of the latus rectum.

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