stylistic:style_transfer, structural:scholar_edition
Engineering

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

"Speaking generally, properties are those physical quantities which directly describe the physical attributes of the system; parameters are those combinations of the properties which suffice to determine the response of the system. Properties can have all sorts of dimensions, depending upon the system being considered; parameters are dimensionless, or have the dimension of time or its reciprocal."

The term can also be used in engineering contexts, however, as it is typically used in the physical sciences.