{"id":403,"date":"2019-07-06T11:28:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T15:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=403"},"modified":"2022-04-12T17:18:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T21:18:58","slug":"types-of-curves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-curves\/","title":{"rendered":"Types of Curves in Graphs\u2014Explanation &#038; Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are the different types of curves you can graph? How do the curves differ from each other? We&#8217;ll cover curves, with examples from real world statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s useful to remember that <strong>statistical trends follow <em>many <\/em>different types of curves<\/strong>, not just a straight line. As people move from Level 1 to Level 4, these trends follow different patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Type of Curve 1: <strong>S-Bend<\/strong> Curves<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/ZhXP1x5xUwt3GMe52x65C-8lo2wEqMpIBmZOt6NB8-IwRRACMQ5goDP34ED1SV4BAnhlx6WBEVdbhSjhqzV6iJvevSMfEStcyn1959dTT5QBMGhvOjUdW0vS7SE1oaivWLwP99Jc\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These types of curves are low and flat at Level 1, rise sharply at Level 2, and flatten off at Levels 3 and 4. Trends that follow this type of curve include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-female-education\/\">female literacy<\/a>, vaccination rates, and refrigeration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is because once people reach Level 2 they can afford these luxuries and start consuming them <em>en masse<\/em>. But the increase slows down in Levels 3 and 4 because everybody already has them by then.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> Type of Curve 2: <strong>Slide Curves<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/HwqXAJi3KnkG8x0HQemuWn9Ppw3yKWqSdXuWOnEER0PLwuKR7rfi7iRE2csSWOu2PkqeCaTQ7UzXUVISMkVggBB62DvswSBdkbjkOTcPwVhPCRC7aecvVxEnB57CMUUW4rhLX5IH\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These curves are the inverse of S-Bends: flat at Level 1, a sharp <em>decrease <\/em>at Level 2, and then a flattening at Levels 3 and 4. A significant example of a phenomenon that follows a slide curve is babies-per-woman. Women have fewer kids as they get more access to contraception and escape extreme poverty in the transition from Level 1 to Level 2. But children <em>born <\/em>at Levels 3 and 4 are less likely to have fewer kids, so the rate of decrease drops.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> Type of Curve 3: <strong>Hump Curves<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/m4GothvN-dfwaC3Iw4en84Rnq8UkKpWDBXlFqughgQXUzjEciq1L4Nm0-qjt8bmHI33KWOx06Y_pC50n7AI9lltJHFCMCXVBovXmwoxXuY663XkzGq3YUUr4NHzLzETynqv8vA9Y\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Hump curves are low at Level 1, rise sharply at Levels 2 and 3, and decline again at Level 4.An interesting example of a trend that moves along a hump curve is cavities. People can\u2019t afford sweets at Level 1, so they have fewer cavities. As they get richer, they can start to afford candy and soda, but not dental care, so cavities peak at Levels 2 and 3. By Level 4, however, people are wealthy enough to afford adequate dental care, so cavities decline once again.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> Type of Curve 4: <strong>Doubling Curves<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/sDmiWRBedbW_Kug7zV-6oStbZaWTLn0XgdNeTcLSb5as2i02632DM_LD0icwoI9VbL2ev2fsyTguEQWUQU8PF7Q0TK-BlVzIPW9bfwfOu7zGHdpwcmoj2OuTzxUhucYoveupFoyR\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This type of curve shows an exponential increase from Level 1 to Level 4. Examples include distance, spending, and CO2 emissions. The reason is that all of these are directly correlated with income. The more money you have, the more you will travel, spend, and contribute to emissions. However, the effect of money is different at all levels: the marginal increase of $1 is life-changing at Level 1, but fairly meaningless at Level 4.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the different types of curves you can graph? How do the curves differ from each other? We&#8217;ll cover curves, with examples from real world statistics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statistics","tag-factfulness","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Types of Curves in Graphs\u2014Explanation &amp; Examples - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are the different types of curves you can graph? How do they differ from each other? 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