Equation 2 · Part 1 · The Metabolism of Civilization: Energy to 2100
Symbol z
What this part means
z is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
Its job in the formula
z is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
Full expression→Symbol z→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
The formal relationship goes back to Theodore Wright’s 1936 observation that aircraft manufacturing labor hours fell as a power-law function of the number of airframes already built, and Way et al. build their entire forecasting method on a stochastic version of it, fitted to more than fifty technologies’ historical cost and production records [ 1 ] . Written in its cleanest form, cost c at cumulative production (experience) z relates to a reference cost at reference experience by:
Learn the underlying idea
A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.
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Sources cited in the surrounding passage
These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.