Usage Question: Learning Curve

When you hear the phrase "steep learning curve" does that imply something is easy to learn or difficult to learn?

I discovered today the origin of the learning curve and realized that the mental picture that I had of the graph was incorrect. From there I wondered about the general usage of the phrase "steep learning curve" and thought I'd take it to the public. Consider it a linguistics experiment.

~Ulrika~

Dang! This should have gone into Off-Topic. Sorry Pathfinder!

~Ulrika~

Here, I'll help:

Do you think that SL has a steep learning curve?

Someone should make a government and make it illegal to accidentally post in the wrong forum!

DNA

I had a completely different idea of what it was, and I think I would have been wrong even if I had the right idea.

A steep learning curve could mean you learn quickly (i.e. your knowledge line gets to the top quickly, relatively of course). But I often hear it being used (including by myself) as meaning something is difficult to learn, as if the obstacles were steep.

Every time I read a "steep learning curve," it means a task is very difficult to master.

This makes sense. Think of it from the curve pictured at the wikipedia link. To say something has "a steep learning curve," it may means that the start cost is greatly larger than the end or a lot of information must be absorbed quickly. Hence, a "steeper" curve.

So, a 30% curve (final output takes 30% the time of the initial) would be steeper than an 80% curve if time is held constant. This also means that you potentially learn a lot more with each repetition. This can also mean, since there's more to absorb, it's harder to learn.

Either way, you're left with a steep learning curve that makes things more difficult to learn.

i voted hard but want to clarify that i don't necessarily mean that the process involves grasping difficult concepts. sometimes there's just a whole lot of stuff to learn, memorize and practice.

They did. It's called Linden Labs and it is against the rules.

(Am I the only one who sees the squid? Honestly, it's right there by the dessert!)
^ Inside joke from the Political Science forum.

~Ulrika~

Oops!

It's actually just the opposite of this. On the Wikipedia page, the graph shows cost per unit produced. As more units are produced, the costs slowly drops. Essentially, cost equates to ignorance and units produced is time. Thus the graph effectively shows ignorance as a function of time.

A curve with a large slope (steep curve) would drop quickly, meaning that ignorance decreased faster, because the task was easy to learn.

A curve with a small slope (shallow curve) would drop slowly, meaning that ignorance decreased slower, because the task was difficult to learn.

It's precisely the opposite of common usage! Isn't that interesting?

~Ulrika~

I'm not sure I agree Ulrika.

A steep learning curve is not a measure of decrease in ignorance over time, it's a measure of increase of knowledge over time.

There are obviously two things that can affect this, one is the amount of learning you need to do (learn your 23X table or learn your 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 times tables say), and the other is the amount of time you have to do it (that's by tomorrow or by an hour from now!).

So the steeper the curve the more you have to learn in less time, so the harder it is to do. The total effort might actually be greater with a shallower learning curve, but the perceived effort is lower - just like walking up a steep slope to the summit of a hill requires more power (energy/time) but usually less total energy (less loss to friction etc.).

Oops. I humbly request that you rethink your position.

If you look at the Wikipedia link for the learning curve, you'll see that the term was coined from an Army study which plotted cost versus units delivered. Because cost is directly related to the amount of time it took to deliver a unit, it is more accurately a measure of one's ignorance. As more units are delivered (this relates to time), this cost slowly drops over time.

As you can see from the picture of the original learning curve on Wikipedia. The curves all start out high and then slowly drop. This is evidence of learning, resulting in a decrease of cost (or an equivalent decrease in ignorance).

Thus the learning curve is essentially a function which will always show a decrease in ignorance over time as individuals performing the function become familiar with it and learn to complete it faster. So, using the original learning-curve graph from the Wikipedia link, one can summarize:

1. The curve originally showed cost versus cumulative units delivered.
   
2. This is equivalent to ignorance versus time.
   
3. The curve will always drop over time as those performing the function become more proficient at it.
   
4. A shallow curve (small slope) equates to something that is hard to learn.
   
5. A steep curve (large slope) equates to something that is easy to learn.

~Ulrika~

Wow Ulrika, I learn something new on here every day.

Human beings can measure ignorance? Imagine that!

In the feild I work in a steep learning curve always has and always will mean that the task is more difficult to learn.

I disagree with the summaries you supply.

Lets use a hill....a steep hill is harder to walk up

a small hill is easier to walk up

Steep implies height therefore how could a steep curve be easier to navigate than a small curve?

A steep curve to me tells me there will be much more ignorance involved for a longer period of time wheras a a shallow curve would be the opposite ...a quicker learning period.

Two points:

1. The Wikipediae (there are several) are neither the fount of nor the final word on human knowledge. Yes, they often provide excellent leads towards that knowledge, but they also contain vast swaths of unchecked sources and ersatz "facts." Use them cautiously and remember they're malleable, open-source platforms, far from error-free.

2. Word origins often have little to do with current meaning. Current meaning is what counts for definitions. It would be pointless to argue, for instance, that "meticulous" is a synonymn for "fearful" -- that isn't the current meaning, though it is its origin (Latin meticulosus derived from metus, "fear;" via French.)

Therefor if something has a "steep learning curve," by virtue of the common interpretation of this phrase, it takes a lot of work up front to figure out; it's considered difficult.

Exactly!

We were discussing this in the Political Science forum and we discovered that none of us actually knew the origin of the phrase and were thus unsure if we were using it properly. After looking at the graph, I quickly realized that common usage is in fact contrary to the nature of the curve and that the public has created an unspoken mental "hill" analogy to explain it.

However, as you said, common usage sets the definition, which was the inspiration of this poll -- to find out how many people use which phrase and why.

Now we know: the common usage is contrary to the true nature of the curve but is nonetheless the correct definition. I luv teh language!

~Ulrika~