Editing Parameter (section)

===Examples===
* In a section on frequently misused words in his book ''The Writer's Art'', [[James J. Kilpatrick]] quoted a letter from a correspondent, giving examples to illustrate the correct use of the word ''parameter'':

<blockquote>W.M. Woods ... a mathematician ... writes ... "... a variable is one of the many things a ''parameter'' is not." ... The dependent variable, the speed of the car, depends on the independent variable, the position of the gas pedal.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>[Kilpatrick quoting Woods] "Now ... the engineers ... change the lever arms of the linkage ... the speed of the car ... will still depend on the pedal position ...'' but in a ... different manner''.  You have changed a parameter"</blockquote>

* A [[parametric equaliser]] is an [[audio filter]] that allows the [[frequency]] of maximum cut or boost to be set by one control, and the size of the cut or boost by another. These settings, the frequency level of the peak or trough, are two of the parameters of a frequency response curve, and in a two-control equaliser they completely describe the curve. More elaborate parametric equalisers may allow other parameters to be varied, such as skew. These parameters each describe some aspect of the response curve seen as a whole, over all frequencies.  A [[graphic equaliser]] provides individual level controls for various frequency bands, each of which acts only on that particular frequency band.
* If asked to imagine the graph of the relationship ''y''&nbsp;=&nbsp;''ax''<sup>2</sup>, one typically visualizes a range of values of ''x'', but only one value of ''a''. Of course a different value of ''a'' can be used, generating a different relation between ''x'' and ''y''. Thus ''a'' is a parameter: it is less variable than the variable ''x'' or ''y'', but it is not an explicit constant like the exponent&nbsp;2. More precisely, changing the parameter ''a'' gives a different (though related) problem, whereas the variations of the variables ''x'' and ''y'' (and their interrelation) are part of the problem itself.
* In calculating income based on wage and hours worked (income equals wage multiplied by hours worked), it is typically assumed that the number of hours worked is easily changed, but the wage is more static. This makes ''wage'' a parameter, ''hours worked'' an [[independent variable]], and ''income'' a [[dependent variable]].