What is a Parameter?
Parameter is a numerical quantity characterizing the population with a certain property or attribute. It is a permanent and unalterable parameter signifying an ideal value that is being sought among the population under study.
Parameters are usually denoted with Greek letters, for example, μ (mu) to denote population mean and σ (sigma) for population standard deviation.
Characteristics of Parameter
- Variables are fixed, and unknown value that shows the original distribution of the population.
- Parameters provide a comprehensive description of the population being studied. They include measures such as the population mean, population standard deviation, population proportion, and population median.
- Parameters are stable over time for a given population, assuming that the population characteristics do not change.
Statistic vs Parameter
In the statistical and data analytics areas, parameters and statistics are the most widely used two terms. Statistic is a numerical value calculated from a sample of data, whereas, Parameter is a numerical value that describes a characteristic of an entire population.
This article will provide the meaning and applications of parameters and statistics and the distinctions between them.