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Related to the graphs in the article: When you want to show that something grows exponentially, plot it with a log scale on the y axis. That way, an exponentia

Related to the graphs in the article: When you want to show that something grows exponentially, plot it with a log scale on the y axis. That way, an exponential function becomes a line, and humans are much better at judging whether something is a line than judging whether something is an exponential function. In fact, whenever you want to honestly show that something follows a certain law, scale your axes so that you get a line in the best case.

zokier 9y ago
Indeed, especially considering how bad the exponential fit is for working set, it is pretty evident that it is not just growing exponentially, but faster than that. Of course the article just had to include this bit: > If we look at these results in graphical form, it’s very obvious what’s going on When it really is not obvious at all what is going on.
- matthewwarren 9y ago
  > Indeed, especially considering how bad the exponential fit is for working set, it is pretty evident that it is not just growing exponentially, but faster than that. Yeah I suck at maths, according to this comment https://lobste.rs/s/j4545s/dos_attack_against_c_compiler#c_nd8r4z https://lobste.rs/s/j4545s/dos_attack_against_c_compiler#c_n..., it's actually 'double exponential' > When it really is not obvious at all what is going on. Yeah, I guess I actually meant to say 'it's very obvious that it's increasing quickly', but as you say, it doesn't read like that!!
  - zokier 9y ago
    I suck at maths too (we should start a club!), but playing around with Calc the best fit I could get (for working set) was with quadratic exponential, i.e. in the form of e^(n^2+n). It would be interesting if someone who actually knows anything about this could chime in and say conclusively what the growth rate really is here.
ender341341 9y ago
I think in this case the linear graph does a better job of showing the 'holy crap this exploded' better than a logarithmic graph would. That it is exponential is more of a neat aside.
- perlgeek 9y ago
  It really depends on what you're after: dramatic effect, or convincing somebody of the actual relation (here that it's exponential, and not, say, x^5 or so)
mkesper 9y ago
I'd say strictly the reverse. Use log scale to hide differences between your results. Related: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1162:_Log_Scale https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1162:_Log_Scale

zokier 9y ago

Indeed, especially considering how bad the exponential fit is for working set, it is pretty evident that it is not just growing exponentially, but faster than that. Of course the article just had to include this bit: > If we look at these results in graphical form, it’s very obvious what’s going on When it really is not obvious at all what is going on.

matthewwarren 9y ago
> Indeed, especially considering how bad the exponential fit is for working set, it is pretty evident that it is not just growing exponentially, but faster than that. Yeah I suck at maths, according to this comment https://lobste.rs/s/j4545s/dos_attack_against_c_compiler#c_nd8r4z https://lobste.rs/s/j4545s/dos_attack_against_c_compiler#c_n..., it's actually 'double exponential' > When it really is not obvious at all what is going on. Yeah, I guess I actually meant to say 'it's very obvious that it's increasing quickly', but as you say, it doesn't read like that!!
- zokier 9y ago
  I suck at maths too (we should start a club!), but playing around with Calc the best fit I could get (for working set) was with quadratic exponential, i.e. in the form of e^(n^2+n). It would be interesting if someone who actually knows anything about this could chime in and say conclusively what the growth rate really is here.

ender341341 9y ago

I think in this case the linear graph does a better job of showing the 'holy crap this exploded' better than a logarithmic graph would. That it is exponential is more of a neat aside.

perlgeek 9y ago
It really depends on what you're after: dramatic effect, or convincing somebody of the actual relation (here that it's exponential, and not, say, x^5 or so)

mkesper 9y ago

I'd say strictly the reverse. Use log scale to hide differences between your results. Related: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1162:_Log_Scale https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1162:_Log_Scale