Beautiful! Thanks for that! I'm gonna post that on my office door.
Poor T-Rex ;)
-Pat
On 2010-12-13, at 12:04 PM, Ben Bolker wrote:
> On 10-12-13 01:49 PM, Rolf Turner wrote:
>>
>>
>> The phrase ``to beg the question'' means to indulge in circular reasoning;
>> to assume what is to be proven.
On 10-12-13 01:49 PM, Rolf Turner wrote:
>
>
> The phrase ``to beg the question'' means to indulge in circular reasoning;
> to assume what is to be proven. Unfortunately that meaning is becoming lost
> in the wilderness of ignorance that surrounds us, and the phrase is almost
> universally used
Rolf -- you da man!
Based on the literary quality of your epistle below, I will be sure to
call upon your services should I ever need some some organization to be
sokaled.
Carl
On 12/13/10 1:49 PM, Rolf Turner wrote:
On 13/12/2010, at 10:05 PM, Jari Oksanen wrote:
I just wonder why th
On 13/12/2010, at 10:05 PM, Jari Oksanen wrote:
> On 13/12/10 10:56 AM, "Philippe Grosjean" wrote:
>
>> Ah! That is interesting!
>>
> ...
>>
>> Otherwise, I am always amazed that people could use a metaphor like
>> here, a reference to the shape of a curve on a graph, without even
>> knowing
And of course the inverse of a flat curve (assuming it is an invertible
function) always is a steep curve.
So steepness or flatness depends on your choice of axes.
If you plot "amount to be learned" on the x-axis
and "time needed" on the y-axis, you also get a steep curve.
On 12/13/2010 10:05 AM
On 13/12/10 10:56 AM, "Philippe Grosjean" wrote:
> Ah! That is interesting!
>
...
>
> Otherwise, I am always amazed that people could use a metaphor like
> here, a reference to the shape of a curve on a graph, without even
> knowing what exactly are the X- and Y-axes. Shame on us!
Nothing to be
Ah! That is interesting!
For me, the learning curve is like the energy required for a chemical or
a biochemical reaction to occur. Thus, on the X-axis, you could have the
amount of R learned/assimilated, and on the Y-axis, you have the
energy/effort/time (or whatever measure of learning effort
I share with Carl about the misuse of the term learning curve.
The original derivation was from learning theory where one plotted
number of correct responses on the y axis against trial number on the
x axis. Steep learning curves thus implied rapid learning (of easy
material). Flat learning
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
On 10-12-2010, at 22:25, 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
There are many levels of knowledge/skills of R, the first levels are quick to
do. But next levels are harder to pass.
I will say in a sentence that R is easy to learn but difficult to master, which
applies to many things (danse, music, sport, ...)!
Christophe
--
Christophe Dutang
Ph.D. student
On 11 December 2010 13:54, Pfister wrote:
> So a "steep" learning curve implies "easy to learn"
Shouldn't that be "quick to learn"?
My own experience with R would suggest that easy and quick are not
always synonymous (eureka moment). I tend to think the R learning
curve qualifies as steep becaus
Carl Witthoft
Cc: "r-sig-mac@r-project.org"
Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] learning R
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I agree with you completely about ``begging the question''. The
nearly universal misuse of this expression drives me crazy. I&#x
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 lea
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-
15 matches
Mail list logo
