LLMs contain a LOT of parameters. But whats a parameter?

Parameters in large language models (LLMs) are the fundamental settings that control how these models generate responses, akin to billions of adjustable dials and levers that influence behavior. For example, OpenAIs GPT-3 has 175 billion parameters, while Google DeepMinds Gemini 3 is believed to have at least a trillion, possibly up to 7 trillion, though exact figures are often undisclosed due to competitive secrecy. These parameters function similarly to algebraic variables, where assigning different values results in different outputs, enabling LLMs to perform complex language tasks with remarkable flexibility. The sheer scale