WPMn

WPMn is an acronym used in different disciplines to denote a variant or indexed form of a core metric, with the "n" serving as a parameter or subscript. There is no universal definition of WPMn; its meaning depends on the context and source.

In mathematics and computer science, some authors define WPMn as a weighted path measure. Given a graph with nonnegative edge weights, the WPMn distance between two nodes is obtained by considering all simple paths and taking the minimum of a path’s total weight adjusted by a function of the path length parameter n. This construction yields a family of distance-like quantities that generalize standard path metrics and can emphasize shorter or longer routes depending on the choice of the weighting function and the value of n.

In human–computer interaction and reading research, WPMn has appeared as a variant of the words-per-minute metric that is adjusted by passage length, item count, or other test features indexed by n. The normalization aims to enable fairer comparisons across tests that vary in length or difficulty.

Because WPMn is not a standardized term, exact definitions are specific to the publication or field. When encountering WPMn, readers should consult the original source to understand how the metric is defined, computed, and interpreted in that particular context.

See also: words per minute, normalization, path metrics, weighted distance measures.