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Parameter:
Parameter:
1. One of the elements of an experiment which can be varied, but which the experimenter tries to control or maintain constant during the course of a specific experiment, while intentionally altering the independent variable and observing changes in the dependent variable. Parameters in one experiment (stimulus strength, for example) might well be independent variables in another.
2. Terms of an equation that do not vary within the context of an experiment, but may be different under different circumstances. Parameter should be distinguished from the independent and dependent variables. For example, in the equation of a straight line, y = mx + b, x is normally the independent variable (the variable under experimental control), y is the dependent (measured) variable, and the slope m and intercept b are parameters, which are the same for a given line, but may be different for a different line.
Cf. Metameter, Bioassay
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