Statistical parameter

A statistical parameter or population parameter is an amount put into the probability distribution of a statistic or a random variable.. It can be thought of as a numbered amount of a trait of a statistical population or a statistical model.Everitt, B. S.; Skrondal, A. (2010), The Cambridge Dictionary of Statistics, Cambridge University Press.

A statistical parameter is different from its estimator in that the parameter is a fixed amount, while the value of an estimator changes according to some probability distribution. The notations  (for the parameter) and  (for the estimator) are often used to clarify this distinction.

Related pages
Parameter

References

Category:Statistics
Category:Economics