{ "model": { "rank": 8969, "code": "thing-q1413083", "model_id": "vr.tr.parameter", "name": "parameter", "purpose": "Let an agent explain parameters and their role across mathematics, statistics, science, engineering and programming, distinguish parameters from variables and constants, support parameter estimation and tuning, and clarify usage.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q1413083/", "tier": 2, "score": 49, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "grid resolution", "location parameter", "truncated mean", "angular eccentricity", "number of chloroplast", "dynamic parameter", "Greeks", "grid spacing", "parameter of the roation of the earth", "large language model parameter", "order parameter", "Love number", "Maximum segment size", "meta category criterion", "orbital elements", "hyperparameter", "cosmological parameter", "parameter of eclipse", "statistical parameter", "pharmacokinetic parameter", "Measures of pollutant concentration", "Mandelstam variables", "Peskin–Takeuchi parameter", "proper orbital elements", "Keplerian elements", "slow-roll parameter", "scale parameter", "nuisance parameter", "shape parameter" ], "aliasCount": 29, "merged": 30, "knownIn": 49, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q1413083", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1413083", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T01:22:46Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q1413083", "registryId": "vr.tr.parameter", "name": "parameter", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q1413083/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.parameter", "name": "parameter", "purpose": "Let an agent explain parameters and their role across mathematics, statistics, science, engineering and programming, distinguish parameters from variables and constants, support parameter estimation and tuning, and clarify usage.", "definition": "A quantity that characterises a system, model, function or process and is held fixed for a given case while varying between cases, such as the mean of a distribution, a location parameter, the grid resolution of a simulation, the angular eccentricity of an ellipse or a dynamic parameter of a model, and in programming a named input to a function; parameters are distinguished from variables and constants by role rather than nature and are estimated, set or tuned in statistics, science and engineering.", "what_it_is_for": "Quantities characterising a case of a system.", "affordances": [ "explain the concept across fields", "distinguish from variables and constants", "support estimation and tuning", "clarify usage" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Role-based distinction", "Estimated or set", "Cross-field", "Multiple usages" ], "appearance": "Not physical; symbols and values in models.", "visual_identification": [ "Fixed for a case, varying between cases", "Characterises a model or function", "A variable changes within a case; a constant never changes" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "statistical parameters such as means and location parameters", "model parameters in science and engineering", "simulation settings such as grid resolution", "geometric parameters such as eccentricity", "function parameters in programming" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "variable", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "constant", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "concept", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "classification", "why": "parameters of classifiers" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Mathematical and statistical conventions", "Programming language specifications", "Reporting standards for model parameters" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing parameters with variables or statistics", "Overfitting from too many parameters", "Ambiguous usage across fields" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a parameter is.", "rationale": "Concepts.", "layers": [ { "id": "concept", "name": "Concept", "description": "Concept and distinctions.", "findings": [ { "id": "concept-finding", "name": "Concept", "description": "Concept.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a parameter, and how does it differ from a variable, a constant and a statistic?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which field usage is meant here?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "fields", "name": "Fields", "description": "Parameters by field.", "findings": [ { "id": "fields-finding", "name": "Fields", "description": "Fields.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are parameters used in statistics, physical models, simulations, geometry and programming?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific usage?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "estimate", "name": "Estimate", "description": "Estimating and tuning.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "estimation", "name": "Estimation", "description": "Parameter estimation.", "findings": [ { "id": "estimation-finding", "name": "Estimation", "description": "Estimation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are parameters estimated from data, and how is uncertainty in estimates expressed?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which entry fits statistical estimation?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "tuning", "name": "Tuning", "description": "Tuning and sensitivity.", "findings": [ { "id": "tuning-finding", "name": "Tuning", "description": "Tuning.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are model and simulation parameters such as grid resolution chosen, tuned and tested for sensitivity?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "How is overfitting avoided?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "programming", "name": "Programming", "description": "Parameters in code.", "rationale": "Computing.", "layers": [ { "id": "functions", "name": "Functions", "description": "Function parameters.", "findings": [ { "id": "functions-finding", "name": "Functions", "description": "Functions.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do parameters and arguments work in functions, and how do languages pass them?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific language?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "config", "name": "Config", "description": "Configuration parameters.", "findings": [ { "id": "config-finding", "name": "Config", "description": "Configuration.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are system and configuration parameters documented and managed?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which entry fits configuration management?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "Language and teaching.", "rationale": "Education.", "layers": [ { "id": "language", "name": "Language", "description": "Usage of the word.", "findings": [ { "id": "language-finding", "name": "Language", "description": "Usage.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did parameter come to its technical and loose everyday senses, and how do style guides treat it?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can the parameter concept be taught across mathematics and programming?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should statistical parameters be a separate entry?", "How should estimation methods be linked?", "How should programming usage be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a parameter, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain parameters and their role across mathematics, statistics, science, engineering and programming, distinguish parameters from variables and constants, support parameter estimation and tuning, and clarify usage.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: grid resolution, location parameter, truncated mean, angular eccentricity, number of chloroplast, dynamic parameter, Greeks, grid spacing, parameter of the roation of the earth, large language model parameter, order parameter, Love number.", "30 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 49 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a parameter, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "grid resolution", "location parameter", "truncated mean", "angular eccentricity", "number of chloroplast", "dynamic parameter", "Greeks", "grid spacing", "parameter of the roation of the earth", "large language model parameter", "order parameter", "Love number" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 49 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 30 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one parameter from another, and a parameter from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a parameter sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a parameter from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a parameter passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a parameter between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a parameter, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a parameter is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What parameter is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of parameter are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is parameter operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of parameter and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of parameter?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as parameter?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a parameter came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a parameter and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a parameter is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a parameter, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a parameter, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a parameter is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }