noun · academic
parameter
UK/pəˈræmɪtə/US/pəˈræmɪtər/pa·RAM·e·ter
a numerical characteristic of a system or model (for example, a coefficient in regression or a population mean) that is usually estimated from data
Examples
“The intercept is a key parameter in the regression model.”
“Population parameters are rarely known and must be estimated from samples.”
“They adjusted the model parameters to improve fit.”
Band 8 sentence
“We used maximum likelihood estimation to obtain parameter values that best fit the observed data.”
Collocations
- estimate a parameter
- model parameters
Word family
Common mistakes
variable→parameter
parameters is→parameters are
Say it for a higher band
5number→6variable→7+parameter
Synonyms
coefficient
Easily confused
statistic
“The sample mean is a statistic, while the population mean is a parameter.”
Related words
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In Science & Research
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