Equation 5 · What the Machine Breakers Actually Wanted
What does this equation mean?
Read the formula alongside the article passage below. Each part has a deeper page with its role in the equation, the supporting passage and nearby citations.
This equation states an equality: the expressions on both sides have the same value under the article’s assumptions. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.
Read it piece by piece
Symbol Δ
Δ appears in the bound of this integral. The bound states where the repeated operation starts, ends, or which values it includes.
Symbol L
L is part of the quantity the equation computes from the expression on the right.
Symbol eta
eta is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Symbol Y
Y is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Symbol Δ I
Δ I appears in the bound of this integral. The bound states where the repeated operation starts, ends, or which values it includes.
Symbol x
x is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Symbol d
d is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Symbol N
the upper edge of the task space where new tasks appear, and scales the induced demand from higher output.
Symbol Δ N
Δ N appears in the bound of this integral. The bound states where the repeated operation starts, ends, or which values it includes.
=
The expressions on both sides represent the same quantity under the stated assumptions.
See an illustrated explanation →change
Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.
subscript
The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.
superscript
A raised number can be a power. When it is a label or bound, it selects a case or the upper limit of a sum; the formula’s structure distinguishes these uses.
See an illustrated explanation →Starting index or lower bound: I
This label says where the repeated addition, multiplication, or accumulation starts. Read its value or condition together with the article’s description of the index.
Ending index or upper bound: I+Δ I
This label says where the repeated addition, multiplication, or accumulation stops. It sets the last term or end of the range.
Starting index or lower bound: N
This label says where the repeated addition, multiplication, or accumulation starts. Read its value or condition together with the article’s description of the index.
Ending index or upper bound: N+Δ N
This label says where the repeated addition, multiplication, or accumulation stops. It sets the last term or end of the range.
How to interpret it
Read it with the definitions, units, and assumptions supplied by the article.
What the article says around this equation
Written schematically, the change in labour demand decomposes as . where tasks are indexed by x , s(x) is the value-added share of task x , I is the automation frontier below which capital performs the task, N is the upper edge of the task space where new tasks appear, and scales the induced demand from higher output. The expression is illustrative of the structure rather than a reproduction of any published estimating equation; the substantive claim it encodes is that the sign of L is not determined by the size of I alone.
Sources cited in the article section
- [10] Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor ↗
- [11] The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment ↗
- [12] Tasks, Automation, and the Rise in U.S. Wage Inequality ↗
- [19] New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940-2018 ↗
These citations give research context. Read each source to check which claims it supports.
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