parameter
See also Parameter
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From French paramètre, from New Latin parametrum (“parameter”), from Ancient Greek παρά (“beside”) + μέτρον (“measure”).
Pronunciation
Noun
parameter (plural parameters)
- (mathematics, physics) A variable kept constant during an experiment, calculation or similar.
- (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 vector)) to obtain a scalar.
- (programming) The value which is passed into the function to instantiate such a name; the argument or actual parameter.
- A characteristic or feature that distinguishes something from others.
- (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.
- (crystallography) The ratio of the three crystallographic axes which determines the position of any plane.
- (crystallography) The fundamental axial ratio for a given species.
Usage notes
- (the value used to instantiate the name): Some authors regard use of parameter to mean argument as imprecise, preferring that parameter refers only to the name that will be instantiated, and argument to refer to the value that will be supplied to it at runtime.
Synonyms
- (value passed to a function): argument
- (characteristic distinguishing something from others): distinguishing feature
- See also Wikisaurus:characteristic
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
variable kept constant during an experiment, calculation or similar
|
name in a function or subroutine definition
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
External links
- parameter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- parameter in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
Dutch
↑Jump back a sectionSwedish
Noun
parameter c
Declension
Declension of parameter
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite |
| nominative | parameter | parametern | parametrar | parametrarna |
| genitive | parameters | parameterns | parametrars | parametrarnas |