No tags yet.
A Steep Learning Curve is Easier Than You Think
When something is referred to as having a "steep learning curve," that thing is generally understood to be very difficult to learn. I say nay. If you plot a learning curve, a steep learning curve actually represents something that is easy.
Why?
If you plot learning as a function of time (or effort, or whatever measurement of "difficult" you want to use), you would plot the dependent variable "Knowledge" on the Y-axis and the independent variable "Time" on the X-axis (more on this later). The figure below shows that the less time it takes to gain knowledge, the steeper the curve is. Knowing everything instantly would be the steepest possible curve. Taking forever to learn nothing would be perfectly flat. That is very difficult, but not steep at all.
If you want to back your way into an interpretation that is consistent with the way "steep learning curve" is commonly (mis)used, you could swap the X and Y axis. That would inverse the curve, making a curve representing something very difficult, steep. However, the problem with that approach is that swapping the axis creates a misleading graph.
When visualizing a function with a curve, it is common practice (and best practice) to plot the dependent variable on the Y-axis. So, if "Time" and "Knowledge" are flipped, the graph is technically communicating that "Time" is a function of "Knowledge." In other words, time increase is a result of knowledge increase. An argument could be made that that is technically correct, but that is an odd way to put it. In the goal is to effectively visualize the relationship between knowledge and time, plotting time on the Y-axis is a bad idea. It's unnecessarily complicated.
Plotting the data correctly results in a graph that is easily understood and an interpretation where a steep curve represents an easy task. So, the next time you need to describe something as difficult, why not just call the thing difficult? Everyone will understand what you mean and you'll be perfectly accurate. Everybody wins.