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> Homeschooling is exploding exponentially, doubling from 2012 to 2023 Two data points can't show something is exponential! Also, it can't possibly be exponen
by astrange 3y ago
> Homeschooling is exploding exponentially, doubling from 2012 to 2023
Two data points can't show something is exponential!
Also, it can't possibly be exponential because the US population is not growing exponentially.
- logicchains 3y ago>Also, it can't possibly be exponential because the US population is not growing exponentially This is completely wrong. The fraction of home-schooled students could e.g have been increasing from 0.02% to 0.04% to 0.08% to 0.16% even if the overall population wasn't growing at all, and that's considered exponential growth. Clearly there are indeed problems with US maths education.
- astrange 3y agoAnd then after another 6 doubling periods it'd get to 10%, will it? Exponential till it's not isn't exponential, it's logistic.
- denton-scratch 3y agoI had to look up "logistic" in that context. Almost anything that is described as "exponential" isn't really exponential, if the curve is describing a real-world quantity. Real-world quantities tend to be subject to limits. I'm an annoying pedant regarding the word "exponential", which is commonly used (especially by journalists) simply to mean "grows fast". I think it's fair to call a curve "exponential" if the relevant part of the curve approximates to exponential.
- astrange 3y agoIt's odd to say you're a pedant about "exponential" when you don't know what a logistic curve is!
- 0xy 3y agoI agree, but the number was ~13,000 in the 1970s. It's now in the millions. So homeschooling has increased over 100x, while the number of students in any education in the US has grown by around 10-20%.