Surely what is envisaged is the sheer effort involved in climbing a step mountain side. It does not have a graph in mind. If one wants to change the metaphor and turn it into a graph, it is not at all obvious what the horizontal axis ought to be, though various rather strained interpretations can be proposed.
There is a further aspect to the metaphor that deserves attention. The reward for negotiating the steep learning curve is to reach a great height, where marvellous vistas spread out before the climber! John Maindonald email: john.maindon...@anu.edu.au phone : +61 2 (6125)3473 fax : +61 2(6125)5549 Centre for Mathematics & Its Applications, Room 1194, John Dedman Mathematical Sciences Building (Building 27) Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200. http://www.maths.anu.edu.au/~johnm On 11/12/2010, at 8:25 AM, Rolf Turner wrote: > > I agree with you completely about ``begging the question''. The > nearly universal misuse of this expression drives me crazy. I'm > not so sure about ``steep learning curve'' however. My impression > is that this phrase has *always* been used to convey the idea that > a subject area is difficult to learn, whence to use it (as you suggest) > in the sense that the subject area can be learned quickly would be to > change the original meaning of the phrase. That would be undesirable, > even given that the original meaning is counter-intuitive. > > I recall having heard/read a ``justification'' for the original meaning > to the effect that what is envisaged is plotting effort expended on > the *y* axis and knowledge level on the *x* axis. Thus a steep learning > curve would entail expending a great deal of effort for a small increase > in knowledge. > > I agree that this is a silly choice of axes --- I certainly wouldn't make > such a choice. But I don't suppose that there's any law against it. > > cheers, > > Rolf Turner > > On 11/12/2010, at 4:22 AM, Carl Witthoft wrote: > >> Next to "begging the question," the phrase "steep learning curve" is >> probably the most misused cliche out there. >> >> A 'learning curve' represents knowledge (or understanding) as a function >> of time. THerefore, the steeper the better. >> Please help save the English language from descent into Humpty-Dumpty >> land, and train your colleagues in the correct usage of both these terms. >> >> Carl >> >>> Message: 2 Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 09:51:27 -0800 From: Payam >>> Minoofar<payam.minoo...@meissner.com> To: >>> "r-sig-mac@r-project.org"<r-sig-mac@r-project.org> Cc: >>> "deniz.kellecio...@gmail.com"<deniz.kellecio...@gmail.com> Subject: >>> [R-SIG-Mac] R for Mac, good enough? >>> Message-ID:<53df393b-2037-4b0d-890f-8dbaa1ba1...@meissner.com> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >>> >>> The power of R is virtually unmatched, and R for Mac works extremely >>> well. >>> >>> The learning curve is steep, however, and documentation is difficult >>> to grasp, even though it is abundantly available. I am more partial >>> to a commercial data analysis package with which I grew up, but I >>> have done enough work with R on the mac platform to recommend it >>> highly. >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> R-SIG-Mac mailing list >> R-SIG-Mac@r-project.org >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac > > _______________________________________________ > R-SIG-Mac mailing list > R-SIG-Mac@r-project.org > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac _______________________________________________ R-SIG-Mac mailing list R-SIG-Mac@r-project.org https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac