What is meant by "steep learning curve"?

In informal usage, a "steep learning curve" means something that is difficult (and takes much effort) to learn. EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Whatismeantby"steeplearningcurve"? AskQuestion Asked 11years,7monthsago Modified 1year,6monthsago Viewed 214ktimes 45 20 WhatshouldIunderstandfrom"steeplearningcurve"?Whenacomputerprogram(forexampleatranslationprogram)hasasteeplearningcurve,doesitmeanthatitisnotgoodatlearningorit'shardforittolearn? meaninglearning Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJul28,2011at19:11 Lauren 27511goldbadge66silverbadges1111bronzebadges askedDec4,2010at12:04 MehperC.PalavuzlarMehperC.Palavuzlar 34.9k5959goldbadges157157silverbadges212212bronzebadges Addacomment  |  3Answers 3 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 65 Ininformalusage,a"steeplearningcurve"meanssomethingthatisdifficult(andtakesmucheffort)tolearn.Itseemsthatpeoplearethinkingofsomethinglikeclimbingasteepcurve(mountain)— it'sdifficultandtakeseffort. Asitistechnicallyused,however,alearningcurveisnotanythingtobeclimbed,andissimplyagraphplottinglearningversustime.Thus,asteeplearningcurvewouldlooklikethis(excusethepoordrawing): Onenaturalinterpretationofsuchacurve,whichwasthepredominantearlyusage(accordingtoWikipedia)andstillexistsinsometechnicalcircles,isthatthethingbeinglearntiseasy—agreatamountoflearninghappensinasmallamountoftime.Thisistheoppositeofthepopularusage.Nowthereisalsoapparentlyaninterpretationofthesamecurveinthenegativesense— probablysomethingaboutalargeamountoflearningexisting,orthatoneneverstopslearningandkeepslearning,butI'mnotsureIunderstandhowthat'snegative. Summary Thepopularmeaningof"steeplearningcurve"is"difficulttolearn";thetechnicalmeaningis"quicktolearn". [Edit,tenyearslater]:IjustnoticedapostfromFebruary8,2013,bythelinguistBenZimmer,whichidentifiesthe1970saswhenthepopularusagedeveloped.Thepost(alsoavailablehere)givestwoexampleseachfromthatdecadeofthewordbeingusedinpublicinthetechnicalsenseandinthecurrentlypopularsense(boldingaddedbyme): Lookingthroughexamplesoftheexpressionfromthe'70s,onecanfindbothpositiveandnegativesenses.Forinstance,anarticleintheSpring1973issueofSloanManagementReviewaboutthecomputerindustryincludesthisline:"Duetoeconomiesofscaleandaverysteeplearningcurve,thecostofsuchcircuitshasdroppedbyafactorofteninalittleoveroneyear."AnarticleintheFebruary11,1979editionoftheBostonGlobeaboutTexasInstrumentssaysthat"partofTI'ssuccessinhavingasteeperlearningcurve—andlowerproductcostswhenproducedinmass—hasbeenits'designtocost'system."Inbothexamples,asteeplearningcurveisagoodthing,fromtheperspectiveofabusinessrampingupproductivityandtryingtokeepcostslow. Butthephrasewasalsobeingusedbyindividualsdescribingalearningprocessmoresubjectively,andinthosecasesthesensebecamemorenegative,withsteepnessequatedwithdifficulty.Thus,forinstance,inDecember1978,thenewlyappointedchairmanofNBC,JaneCahillPfeiffer,toldtheNewYorkTimes,"I'monaverysteeplearningcurve,andthebulkofFred[Silverman]'sexperienceisnotwheremineis."Thefollowingmonth,inJanuary1979,LordKearton,chairmanoftheBritishNationalOilCorporation,hadthistosaytoTheGuardian:"EverybodyintheNorthSeaisonaverysteeplearningcurve.Whatworriesusistheprospectofnewpeoplecominginwithpracticallynoresourcesofanyscale,whowillhavetostartmoreorlessatthebottomofthiscurve." Itwasuseslikethese(notablybothfromtitansofindustry)thathelpedpopularizethenotionthatasteeplearningcurvewasanarduousandnotaneasyprocess. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedDec29,2020at17:29 answeredDec4,2010at16:28 ShreevatsaRShreevatsaR 27k44goldbadges8585silverbadges104104bronzebadges 19 4 +1forinformationaboutactualmeaningofthisphraseandthewayitisusuallyused.Moreaboutthis:discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/…,stackoverflow.com/q/277618/95. – MarekGrzenkowicz Dec4,2010at16:38 4 Thetechnicalmeaningisn't"quicktolearn";byasteeplearningcurve,what'smeantisacurvewitha"cliff"init.Thatis,somethingwhereittakesawhiletolearnanythingatall,andthenone"suddenlygetsit".It'snotsuchabigjumpfromthereto"difficult",althoughtheoriginalliteralmeaningwasaparticularkindofdifficult. – Henry Dec4,2010at20:31 7 Frompsywww.com/intropsych/ch07_cognition/learning_curve.html:"Peopleoftenspeakofasteeplearningcurvewhentheymeantheopposite.Asteeplearningcurveisoneinwhichskillimprovesquickly,meaningsomethingiseasytolearn.However,whatmostpeoplemeanby"steeplearningcurve"isdifficultlearningexperience.Nodoubttheyarethinkingofsteephillsandsteepmountainswhichmakeclimbingdifficult.Inactuality,thesteepestpartofthelearningcurveistheportionwherelearningisfastestandeasiest." – Alex Dec5,2010at14:24 2 Imeanacurvewithalong,fairlyflatregion,followedbyabig,suddenjump.Inotherwords,considertwoskillswhereexpertiseineithercanbeachievedin100hoursoftraining.Inonetask,thereisasteadygaininunderstandingandabilityastimeisputin.Intheothertask,onegainsalmostnoabilityuntilafter90hours,atwhichpointmasterysteadilyclimbs.Inonesense,bothareequallydifficult(ittakesthesameamountoftimetomastereach),butinanothersense,thesecondtaskismoredifficult. – Henry Dec5,2010at18:47 3 Whyistheauthorusingtimeandlearningasxandyaxis?Asteeplearningcurveisusedinthecontextofapre-existingdomainofknowledgeandreferstotheamountoneneedstolearninordertobeoperatingeffectivelywithinthatdomainofknowledge.Inotherwords,ifyouhavetoknow3factsaboutadomain,itdoesn'thaveasteeplearningcurve;ifyouneedtoknow1000factsitdoes.Timeisirrelevantinthiscontext.Thecorrectaxisshouldbe"factstoknow"and"effectivenesstoreason/actindomain".Baseduponthis,steeplearningcurveisaccurate. – timpone Dec20,2013at14:04  |  Show14morecomments 24 Steeplearningcurvemeansthere'salotoffactstopickuprightatthebeginning. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedNov23,2019at19:27 answeredJun26,2013at16:42 bobobobobobobobo 1,73733goldbadges1919silverbadges2727bronzebadges 5 2 Thesecurvesseemstoagreebetterwiththecommonuseof"steeplearningcurve".Moreoverhavingproficiency/difficultyrelatesbetterwitha"learning"curvesinceproficiencyistheultimateresultoflearningwhereasdifficultyisthehurdlethatneedstobeovercometoobtainthatproficiency(hencethehumpinthesecondgraph).HoweverIfeelthatproficiencyshouldbethedependentvariablesinceitisthe"outcome"oflearningwhereaseffort(theinverseofdifficulty)shouldbetheindependentvariable. – adib Feb18,2016at5:47 @adibifyouweretoputproficiencyonthey-axisyouwouldseeanapparentlyverygentlelearningcurve(proficiencymustincreaseslowlyvseffort) – bobobobo Nov23,2019at14:28 Toecho@adib:Whilethisanswernicelyillustrateswhatpeopleseemtobethinkingwhentheyuse“steeplearningcurve”inthepopularsense,notethat“learningcurve”hasawell-establishedmeaninginthetechnicalliteraturethatputsonthey-axisthelearning/proficiency,notdifficulty.Difficultyisnottheoutcomeofproficiencysoit'sweirdtoputitonthey-axis.TheWikipediaarticle(currentversion)alsohassomediscussionofhowthepopularmeaningistheoppositeofthetechnicalmeaning. – ShreevatsaR Nov23,2019at17:10 1 @ShreevatsaRYes,you'dliketoput#FactsLearnedonthex-axisandtheresultantProficiencyonthey-axis.However,thatcurveisonlysteepwhenProficiencyisVERYHIGHforsmallnumbersoffactslearned(implyinganeasyskill).SoIflippedtheaxestoaccommodatethe"steeplearningcurve"expression. – bobobobo Nov23,2019at19:09 IfyouputTimeonthex-axis,and#FactsToLearnonthey-axis,Isupposeanactivitywitha"steeplearningcurve"hasanexpectationtoabsorbmanyfactsoverashortperiodoftime. – bobobobo Nov23,2019at19:18 Addacomment  |  16 Thisphrasehasascientificbasis(Wikipediahasinformationonitsoriginandscientificusage),butismostcommonlyusedtoindicatethatsomethingisdifficulttolearn.Itreferstoaperson’srateofprogressinlearninganewskillasitmightbeplottedonagraph.Inthiscaseitsoundslikethecomputerprogramitselfisdifficultforbeginnerstouseeffectively,notthatitisnotgoodatlearning.Ihaveneverheardthephraseusedthatway,thoughIsupposeitcouldapplytoaprogramthatusesartificialintelligence. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredDec4,2010at12:30 ToddProutyToddProuty 1,0811010silverbadges1010bronzebadges Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedmeaninglearningoraskyourownquestion. TheOverflowBlog StackExchangesitesaregettingprettierfaster:IntroducingThemes FeaturedonMeta Duplicatedvotesarebeingcleanedup AnnouncingtheStacksEditorBetarelease! Linked 47 Isthereanotherwayofsaying'user-unfriendly'? 29 What'stheoppositefor"steeplearningcurve"? 20 Whydowesay"lowestcommondenominator"whenwemean"greatestcommondivisor"? 2 Isitcorrecttosay"Thelearningcurvehasalwaysbeenuphill"? -2 What'sthemeaningof"scrambledup"? 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