Chapter 49
The power curve
Questions answered in this chapter:
As my company produces more of a product, it learns how to make the product more efficiently. How can I model the relationship between units produced and the time needed to produce a unit?
Does Excel’s trend curve correctly fit power curves?
A power curve is calculated by Equation 1, y = axb, where a and b are constants. Using a trend curve, you can determine the values of a and b that make the power curve best fit a scatter chart.
In most situations, a is greater than 0. When this is the case, the slope of the power curve depends on the value of b, as follows:
When b > 1, y increases as x increases, and the slope of the power curve increases as x increases.
When 0 < b < 1,
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