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OT: "Steep learning curve". Can someone give me an intuition that explains the meaning? My understanding is that it means "requires a lot of effort to learn t

OT: "Steep learning curve". Can someone give me an intuition that explains the meaning? My understanding is that it means "requires a lot of effort to learn to some degree", but when I see the words "learning curve", I imagine a graph with time on the x-axis and knowlege on the y-axis, and when that curve is steep, that means you acquire a lot of knowledge in a short time. Which is kind of the opposite... Can someone give me an intuition that doesn't clash with the intended meaning like that?

CuriousSkeptic 6y ago
Have the y-axis represent effort required to advance, and x-axis level of mastery achieved. F.ex “effort“ could be quantified as topics in a book to cover before being ready for the next chapter, and “mastery” as simply number of chapters read.
steveklabnik 6y ago
The intuition is supposed to be that knowledge is on top of something like a mountain. It is easier to climb up a small hill than it is to climb up Mt. Everest. This is because (in the analogy, obviously in real life it's more than just this) Mt. Everest is steeper than the hill your house is on top of. In other words, the issue with your intuition is that the speed at which you go up the curve is constant, but in the saying, you go up the steeper curve much more slowly than you do the slight curve. Does that help?
Zacru 6y ago
Yeah, it's an extremely common misuse of the learning curve concept. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve#%22Steep_learning_curve%22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve#%22Steep_learni... >Arguably, the common English use is due to metaphorical interpretation of the curve as a hill to climb. (A steeper hill is initially hard, while a gentle slope is less strainful, though sometimes rather tedious. So common, that it's basically become the default interpretation. Kind of like "irregardless". I wonder if there is a name for phrases like this that basically mean the opposite of what the words literally say.

CuriousSkeptic 6y ago

Have the y-axis represent effort required to advance, and x-axis level of mastery achieved. F.ex “effort“ could be quantified as topics in a book to cover before being ready for the next chapter, and “mastery” as simply number of chapters read.

steveklabnik 6y ago

The intuition is supposed to be that knowledge is on top of something like a mountain. It is easier to climb up a small hill than it is to climb up Mt. Everest. This is because (in the analogy, obviously in real life it's more than just this) Mt. Everest is steeper than the hill your house is on top of. In other words, the issue with your intuition is that the speed at which you go up the curve is constant, but in the saying, you go up the steeper curve much more slowly than you do the slight curve. Does that help?

Zacru 6y ago

Yeah, it's an extremely common misuse of the learning curve concept. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve#%22Steep_learning_curve%22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve#%22Steep_learni... >Arguably, the common English use is due to metaphorical interpretation of the curve as a hill to climb. (A steeper hill is initially hard, while a gentle slope is less strainful, though sometimes rather tedious. So common, that it's basically become the default interpretation. Kind of like "irregardless". I wonder if there is a name for phrases like this that basically mean the opposite of what the words literally say.