parameters

Definition: A parameter (from the Ancient Greek παρά, para: "beside", "subsidiary"; and μέτρον, metron: "measure"), generally, is any characteristic that can help in defining or classifying a particular system (meaning an event, project, object, situation, etc.). That is, a parameter is an element of a system that is useful, or critical, when identifying the system, or when evaluating its performance, status, condition, etc.

In computing, a parameter is defined as "a reference or value that is passed to a function, procedure, subroutine, command, or program". For example, the name of a file, (a parameter), is passed to a computer program, which then performs a specific function; that is, a program may be passed the name of a file on which it will perform the specific function.

In engineering (especially involving data acquisition), the term parameter sometimes loosely refers to an individual measured item. This usage isn’t consistent, as sometimes the term channel refers to an individual measured item, with parameter referring to the setup information about that channel.