degree of freedom
noun
Statistics.
any of the statistically independent values of a sample that are used to determine a property of the sample, as the mean or variance.
Physical Chemistry.
any of the independent variables required to specify the energy of a molecule or atom.
Origin of degree of freedom
First recorded in 1900–05
Words nearby degree of freedom
degrease,
degree,
degree day,
degree of curve,
degree of difficulty,
degree of freedom,
degree-day,
degression,
degressive,
degu,
degum
British Dictionary definitions for degree of freedom
degree of freedom
noun
physics
one of the minimum number of parameters necessary to describe a state or property of a system
one of the independent components of motion (translation, vibration, and rotation) of an atom or molecule
chem
one of a number of intensive properties that can be independently varied without changing the number of phases in a system
See also phase rule
statistics
one of the independent unrestricted random variables constituting a statistic
Scientific definitions for degree of freedom
degree of freedom
Any of the independent thermodynamic variables, such as pressure, temperature, or composition, required to specify a system with a given number of phases and components.
Any of the independent terms used to characterize the way a physical system can store energy. For example, a molecule consisting of two atoms can be thought of as having three degrees of freedom: one for its linear motion (as the whole molecule moves through space), one for its angular motion (as it rotates around its center of gravity) and one for its internal vibrational energy (as the atoms pull and push against each other within their chemical bond).