/pəˈɹæm.ɪ.tə/► audioScrabble 13Words With Friends 15
Definition
noun a constant in the equation of a curve that can be varied to yield a family of similar curves.
— synonyms: parametric_quantity
noun any factor that defines a system and determines (or limits) its performance.
noun (computer science) a reference or value that is passed to a function, procedure, subroutine, command, or program.
— synonyms: argument
noun a quantity (such as the mean or variance) that characterizes a statistical population and that can be estimated by calculations from sample data.
Examples
“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 vector)) to obtain a scalar.”
“The parameter of the principal axis of a conic section is called the latus rectum.”