Having made my living with learning curves . . .

Post #365,461 by Andrew Grygus 10/23/12 2:07:08 PM Reply	Having made my living with learning curves . . . . . for many years, this is how it was laid out. I still have the book of tables I used - we didn't have computers in those days. X axis (horizontal) - total number of units produced. Y axis (vertical) - total time invested per unit produced. So if you start high at the left, you hope to decline rapidly (steep curve) - unless you're on a cost plus contract. Of course, the ideal is a very shallow learning curve, starting low and ending a bit lower. Takes a lot of the risk out of estimating the total cost.
Post #365,462 by drook 10/23/12 2:10:49 PM Reply	Hmm, backwards from (current) common usage People talk about climbing the learning curve, and a steep curve is harder to climb. -- Drew
Post #365,477 by Andrew Grygus 10/23/12 8:51:04 PM Reply	No, they just don't understand learning curves. You don't climb learning curves - you start at the top (most difficult) and slide down (you hope).
Post #365,464 by Another Scott 10/23/12 3:38:51 PM Reply	I think those are "experience curves". E.g. http://en.wikipedia...._experience_curve Given your previous experience, that would seem to be a perfect fit. Cheers, Scott.
Post #365,478 by Andrew Grygus 10/23/12 9:01:09 PM Reply	Yea, but . . . . . note that they use "Experience Curve" as a "disambiguation" of the major heading "Learning Curve" - and the other definitions are TV shows or bands. Calling it an "Experience Curve" is probably a recent attempt to overcome the total misuse of the term "Learning Curve" in current speech. We always called it "Learning Curve", and the government auditors called it "Learning Curve", and my book of tables is titled "Cumulative Average Learning".

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