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When I was reading a project paper, I came across this phrase:

particularly if you have a lot of data and a model without many degrees of freedom.

What is meant by a model without many degrees of freedom?

I have gone through this thread, but the thread just gives a general definition for df.

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Elizabeth Susan Joseph
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  • That refers to the number of free parameters that can be adjusted while fitting the model. – Marc Claesen Mar 04 '15 at 12:46
  • @DLDahly I have updated a question. – Elizabeth Susan Joseph Mar 04 '15 at 13:02
  • @MarcClaesen - Could elaborate the answer. – Elizabeth Susan Joseph Mar 04 '15 at 13:02
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    Examples: a multiple regression model has as many degrees of freedom as there are parameters to be estimated, which is equal to the number of regressors (the intercept and the error variance may or may not count, but that is just a minor detail). ARMA model has $p+q$ degrees of freedom where $p$ is the autoregressive lag order and $q$ is the moving-average lag order (again, intercept and error variance may be included in the count). A "model without many degrees of freedom" is similar to a "parsimonious model". – Richard Hardy Mar 04 '15 at 13:30
  • @RichardHardy - So degrees of freedom are number of paramters. am I right? – Elizabeth Susan Joseph Mar 04 '15 at 13:51
  • It depends on the context. In the quote that you provided it is so (at least in the simple cases that first come to my mind). – Richard Hardy Mar 04 '15 at 14:07
  • @RichardHardy- now I got the concept. but in an equation such as x+y+z = 12 , the degrees of freedom is 3(n-1). So this is what is confusing me. – Elizabeth Susan Joseph Mar 04 '15 at 15:15
  • Your question is based on the implausible claim that a long thread, with many highly voted answers, which deals extensively at many levels with the concept of DF, "just gives a general definition." I would like to suggest that thread deserves more of your attention. – whuber Mar 04 '15 at 17:54

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