In manufacturing/engineering, there is a concept known as the bathtub curve. In theory, something that is brand new (including a human being!) is more likely to have failures than something that is a little older and has worked out those early kinks. Of course, once the product gets old, you’ll start having new reasons for failure (things wearing out).
I don’t have much to add on this topic, but I created this post this for two simple reasons:
- First, it’s a nice example of a Cartesian graph that makes intuitive sense. The aggregate blue curve indicates that new things can be lemons, then they work smoothly, and then they wear out and start breaking again.
- Also, I think its a great example of an authentic real-life piecewise function. As you can see, it has three very different sections.
Question: In terms of cars, do you think the blue curve above would be so symmetric?