Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Can anything/everything be depicted by a BELL CURVE? The Learning Curve. The SANITY Curve. The INTELLIGENCE Curve. The TRUTH curve?
A Bell Curve is a genuine graph that arises in the mathematics of Probability.
It can be demonstrated by recording the landings of a coin tossed very many times.
Another way is by a "Quincunx", aka "Galton Board" - mis-using the word that actually means a particular geometrical pattern of 5 elements. The 5 dots of a die form a quincunx. This though is a sloping board studded with staggered rows of lozenge-shaped islands that give a small ball allowed to roll freely down it a series of left-right "choices" before it drops from the last row into one of a series of narrow troughs along the bottom of the slope. Use enough balls, and the outline of the area they occupy traces a bell-curve.
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There is no Intelligence Curve beyond arguably a graph showing the result of an IQ-by-population survey, showing the mean and average IQ of that population all measured at the same time by the same artificial tests. The business of IQ-numbers is rather artificial because it usually only assesses ability to solve a set of what are really only puzzles. I believe IQ Tests were originally invented for such purposes as assessing (well, guessing) the educational abilities of children.
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A Learning Curve is no more than a clichéd metaphor originally remarking on the speed at which someone learns something: the quicker the learning, the steeper the imaginary curve . It has become reversed in meaning to suggest the difficulty of learning the subject. Neither guise has any numerical meaning or worth.
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There are no "curves" for Truth or Sanity as those are human traits that cannot be measured.
Thank you for your meaty reply Durdle. Frankly m'dear I don't understand most of it but that's my inadequacy and not your fault.
I have personally lived with learning curves in my various jobs. Some newbies grasp things very quickly and are a good investment. Time is money. The longer it takes someone to learn how to do a job the more costly it is. Cliched metaphor? I don't get why you think that. It is a real world actual occurrence. How many newbies have YOU trained for a job? If you did then did you ever have to let anyone go who couldn't learn? I did once and it was not an easy thing to do. As for intelligence curve or truth curve or sanity curve I made those up. I do that a lot. Just to shake the trees and see what drops down. Happy Tuesday to thee and thine DurdlE! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at May 4, 2021 2:24 AM MDT
Durdle 