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True, that meaning seems to be typical now. The opposite is the original meaning though. > Scores of authors use the phrase “steep learning curve” or “sharp le
by unanimous 1y ago
True, that meaning seems to be typical now. The opposite is the original meaning though.
> Scores of authors use the phrase “steep learning curve” or “sharp learning curve” in reference to a skill that is difficult to master. . . . Nevertheless, from the standpoint of learning theory, these and other authors have it backward, because a steep learning curve, i.e., a curve with a large positive slope, is associated with a skill that is acquired easily and rapidly (Hopper et al., 2007).
Source: Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: a list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01100/full https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10....)
- exe34 1y agoYes, but most people can hold two competing definitions in their head at the same time!
- InsideOutSanta 1y agoOverlooking your comment, I sanction your opinion.
- rpdillon 1y agoEveryone is talking about curves, but no one's talking about how the axes are labeled. Based on common usage of the term learning curve, I had thought of it much like a power curve where the y-axis is the amount of cumulative effort you have to put in to reach a particular point on the x-axis, which measures mastery. Sounds like the official definition is effort on the x-axis and the total amount you've learned on the y-axis, which would indeed invert the meaning from how I've understood it.