What does parameter mean in Physics?

Question

I am going into 11th grade and I am taking Honors Physics. My teacher asked for a paragraph describing the idea, parameter, and the major concept of certain topics. If you could explain what it means and show an example. For the example could you use Kinematics? Please help soon:/

Answer 1

Parameter is a confusing word because in some contexts it is a variable and in other contexts it is a limit, and sometimes it is a characteristic used for comparison.

Examples: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parameter?r=75&src=ref&ch=dic



That's one of those things where you don't say anything because either everybody knows what it means or nobody knows what it means.

Answer 2

What Does Parameter Mean

Answer 3

"Parameter" usually means something similar to "variable".



A parameter is a measurement that describes the system. For example, in a problem about a ball rolling down a ramp, the parameters include length of the ramp, angle, radius of the ball, mass of the ball.

(in contrast, a variable changes even within the system - the ball's speed would be a variable)



"Parameters" can also mean limits or scope. In this context it would mean what types of question can be answered by kinematics alone, without reference to any other topics.

Answer 4

That is a pretty unclear word in that context. I would guess, in physics, different concepts would have different parameters, essentially meaning that different concepts deal with different variables and different quantities. So, for kinematics, various parameters are force, distance, acceleration, velocity ,displacement, kinetic energy, potential energy, etc; whereas, for E&M, parameters might be voltage, charge, current, etc.