parameter
UK /pəˈɹæm.ɪ.tə/ · US /pəˈɹæm.ə.tɚ/ noun
Forms parameters
- noun A value kept constant during an experiment, equation, calculation, or similar, but varied over other versions of the experiment, equation, calculation, etc.
- noun (sciences) A variable that describes a property or characteristic of some system (material, object, event, etc.) or some aspect thereof.
- noun (statistics) Any measured quantity of a statistical population that summarises or describes an aspect of the population.
- noun (machine learning) A variable of a model that is trained by a machine learning algorithm.
- noun (programming) An input variable of a function definition, that gets an actual value (argument) at execution time.
- noun (programming, loosely) An actual value given to such a formal parameter.
- noun A characteristic or feature that distinguishes something from others.
- noun (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.”
Synonyms
formal parameter argument actual parameter attribute characteristic designation vein distinctiveness feature hallmark owndom property propriety quality race trait touch whatness parametric quantity
Etymology
From French paramètre, from New Latin parametrum (“parameter”), from Ancient Greek παρα- (para-, “beside”) + μέτρον (métron, “measure”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The ratio of the three crystallographic axes which determines the position of any plane; also, the fundamental axial ratio for a given species.
Etymology [Pref. para- + -meter: cf. F. paramètre.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “parameter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details