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Ironically, most people understand "learning curves" counterintuitively. If a "learning curve" is a simple X-Y graph with "time" and "knowledge" being on each
by AStonesThrow 1y ago
Ironically, most people understand "learning curves" counterintuitively.
If a "learning curve" is a simple X-Y graph with "time" and "knowledge" being on each axis respectively, then what sort of learning curve is preferable: a flatter one or a steep one?
Clearly, if you graph large increases of knowledge over shorter periods of time, a steeper learning curve is more preferable. "Flattening the learning curve" makes it worse!
But for some reason, people always reverse this meaning, and so the common idiom breaks down for people who try to reason it out.
- zigzag312 1y agoReplace "knowledge" with "required knowledge". It's not about how efficiently you can learn, but how much do you need to learn in a specific amount of time. If you need to learn a lot in short amount of time (which is a hard thing to do) the curve is steep. You can flatten the curve by increasing the time you have available or by requiring less knowledge.
- zahlman 1y ago> But for some reason, people always reverse this meaning, and so the common idiom breaks down for people who try to reason it out. Because one imagines the "curve" like physical topology, with the goal of reaching the top.