Scrabble?! PARAMETER

Definitions of PARAMETER in various dictionaries:

noun - a constant in the equation of a curve that can be varied to yield a family of similar curves

noun - any factor that defines a system and determines (or limits) its performance

noun - (computer science) a reference or value that is passed to a function, procedure, subroutine, command, or program

noun - a quantity (such as the mean or variance) that characterizes a statistical population and that can be estimated by calculations from sample data

Mathematics.

A constant in an equation that varies in other equations of the same general form, especially such a constant in the equation of a curve or surface that can be varied to represent a family of curves or surfaces.

One of a set of independent variables that express the coordinates of a point.

One of a set of measurable factors, such as temperature and pressure, that define a system and determine its behavior and are varied in an experiment.

A factor that restricts what is possible or what results: “all the parameters of shelter—where people will live, what mode of housing they will choose, and how they will pay for it” (New York).

A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary: an experimental school that keeps expanding the parameters of its curriculum.

A quantity, such as a mean, that is calculated from data and describes a population.

In recent years parameter has become the archetype for the borrowing of scientific terms into general usage and as such has occasioned a good deal of skeptical comment.