LEARNING CURVE PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1. Experience curves are valid and useful for both manufacturing and service operations applications. T/F
2. Experience curves are the opposite of learning curves–as one rises, the other falls. T/F
3. If the learning curve for a process is 100 percent, then each unit in a series of units will have the same
labor requirements. T/F
4) The fundamental premise underlying learning curve analysis is that:
A) tasks can be easily learned in organizations.
B) organizations and people become better at their tasks as the tasks are repeated.
C) learning takes place when people in organizations change.
D) total labor costs decrease as the number of production units increases.
E) doubling output cuts labor requirements per unit in half.
5) Which of the following BEST conveys the essence of learning curves?
A) As the number of repetitions increases, time per unit increases.
B) As the number of repetitions decreases, time per unit increases.
C) As the number of repetitions increases, time per unit decreases.
D) As the number of repetitions increases, time per unit remains constant.
E) As the number of repetitions increases, time per unit doubles.
6) A learning curve:
A) plots man-hours per dollar versus time.
B) is mathematically described by a parabola.
C) should be plotted on polar coordinate graph paper.
D) is based on the premise that organizations learn from experience.
E) follows a normal distribution.
7) The fact that human activities typically improve when they are done on a repetitive basis is described by
a:
A) normal distribution curve.
B) binomial distribution curve.
C) learning curve.
D) Poisson distribution curve.
E) repetition curve.
8) A 100% learning curve implies that:
A) learning is taking place for all products and workers.
B) learning is taking place at the best possible level.
C) a 100% reduction in the direct labor time takes place each time the production is doubled.
D) no learning is taking place.
E) None of these is true.
9) The learning curve rate is:
A) the percentage of time it will take to make each unit when the production rate doubles.
B) the log-log of the annual rate change divided by the average unit cost.
C) always based on constant value dollars.
D) only considered valid after one year of data is accumulated.
E) equal to at least 75%.
10) A job requires 20 hours for the initial unit and 11.25 hours for the fourth unit. What is the learning rate?
A) 70%
B) 75%
C) 80%
D) 85%
E) 90%
11) A job with a 90% learning curve required 27 hours for the second unit. The first unit should require how
many hours?
A) 20.00
B) 30.00
C) 33.00
D) 18.000
E) 25.11
12) Which of the following statements comparing learning curve rates (L) to improvement rates is TRUE?
A) The learning curve rate is the same as the improvement rate.
B) The learning curve rate is a decimal value while the improvement rate is a percentage.
C) A 90 percent learning curve corresponds to a 10 percent rate of improvement.
D) Learning curve rates apply to labor only, while improvement rates apply to all resources.
E) "Learning curve rates" is American usage, while "improvement rates" is British.
13) If it took 500 hours to produce the first unit of a product, and the learning curve is 90%, how long will it
take (in hours) to produce units 12 through 20?
A) 4,500
B) 7,304
C) 2,960
D) 2,617
E) 10,122
14) The learning curve for a product is 80 percent. The first unit took 100 hours to complete. The
manufacturer wants to determine how many hours the fifth unit will take by using the formula approach.
What is the coefficient b for that calculation?
A) -.097
B) -.515
C) -.322
D) .80
E) 1.90
15) The learning rate for a product is 90 percent. The first unit took 50 hours to complete. The manufacturer
wants to determine how many hours the fourth unit will take by using the formula approach. What is the
coefficient b for that calculation?
A) -.234
B) -.152
C) -.322
D) .693
E) 8.1
16) The first unit of a product took 1000 hours to build, and the learning curve is 80%. How long will it take
to make the 12th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach.)
A) less than 350 hours
B) from 351 to 425 hours
C) from 426 to 475 hours
D) from 476 to 500 hours
E) 500 or more hours
17) The first unit of a product took 100 hours to build, and the learning curve is 85%. How long will it take
to make the 20th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach.)
A) less than 25 hours
B) from 25 to 40 hours
C) from 41 to 60 hours
D) from 61 to 75 hours
E) 75 or more hours
18) The first product took 20 hours to build, and the learning curve is estimated to be 75%. How long (in
hours) will it take to make the 8th unit?
A) 13.8
B) 9.5
C) 8.4
D) 15.0
E) 22.6
19) The 4th unit of production took 8 hours. If the learning curve is 80%, how long did the first unit take?
A) 9.0 hours
B) 10.0 hours
C) 11.1 hours
D) 12.5 hours
E) 15.0 hours
20) The first unit took 14 hours and the fourth unit took 8.96 hours to complete. What is the learning curve?
A) 100%
B) 99%
C) 95%
D) 90%
E) 80%
21) The first unit took 14 hours and the eighth unit took 10.206 hours. What is the learning curve?
A) 70%
B) 90%
C) 80%
D) 12.5%
E) 75%
22) The first unit took 14 hours and the fourth unit 8.96 hours. What is the improvement rate?
A) 99%
B) 95%
C) 90%
D) 20%
E) 10%
23) The first unit took 14 hours and the third unit took 10.206 hours. What is the improvement rate?
A) 70%
B) 30%
C) 50%
D) 90%
E) 10%
24) The first unit of production took 16 hours with an 80% learning curve. How long will it take (in hours)
to complete both the first and second units?
A) 19
B) 28.8
C) 18
D) 12.8
E) 25.6
25) It took 18 hours to complete the first two products with an 80% learning curve. How long did the second
product take?
A) 8.0 hours
B) 10.0 hours
C) 18.0 hours
D) 8.1 hours
E) none of these
26) A company negotiates a price for two aircraft that includes a reduction in labor on the second aircraft
consistent with a 70% learning curve. Suppose the first aircraft took 100 hours. If the improvement rate
changes to 40%, how will the total time to complete both aircraft change?
A) no change
B) -10 hours
C) +10 hours
D) -30 hours
E) +30 hours
27) Suppose that there are two products with the same first product time. However, product A has an
improvement rate of 10% while product B has an improvement rate of 15%. How much longer will it take to
make the 10th unit of product A compared to product B?
A) Both will have the identical time for the 10th unit.
B) A will take 33% more time.
C) A will take 33% less time.
D) A will take 21% more time.
E) A will take 21% less time.
28) The first unit of a product took 1,000 hours to build, and the learning curve is 80%. Approximately how
long (in hours) will it take to make the next five units?
A) 4299
B) 3738
C) 3299
D) 2738
E) 562
29) A defense contractor has just started producing turbines for a new government contract. The first turbine
took 6000 hours to produce. If the learning curve is 80%, how long will it take to produce the 10th turbine?
(Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach.)
A) less than 2800 hours
B) from 2800 to 2900 hours
C) from 2900 to 3000 hours
D) from 3000 to 3100 hours
E) over 3100 hours
30) It took 60 hours to make the first unit of a product. After the second and third units were made, the
learning curve was estimated to be 80%. At $10 per hour, estimate the labor bill for the fourth unit. (Use at
least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach.)
A) $400 or less
B) from $400 to $420
C) from $420 to $440
D) from $1800 to $2000
E) over $2000
31) A manager is trying to estimate the appropriate learning curve for a certain job. The manager notes that
the first four units had a total time of 25 minutes. Which learning curve would yield approximately this
result if the first unit took 9 minutes?
A) 0.70
B) 0.75
C) 0.80
D) 0.85
E) 0.90
32) In the formula approach to learning curve calculations, TN = T1 (Nb). For a problem with an 88 percent
learning curve, what is b?
A) −0.184
B) 0.184
C) 0.88
D) −0.88
E) −0.120
33) Companies pursuing a learning curve strategy MUST increase which of the following?
A) employee training
B) costs
C) quality
D) volume
E) all of these
34) Which of the following is a limitation of the use of learning curves?
A) Change in personnel, design, or procedure leave the learning curve unchanged.
B) Learning curves are applicable to services as well as to manufacturing.
C) The culture of the workplace may alter the learning curve.
D) Direct labor and indirect labor follow the same learning curves.
E) Applications of learning curves are of tactical, not strategic, importance.