when a learning curve has a given percentage this indicates the rate at which learning and improvement occur most often the percentage given is the amount of time it will take to perform double the amount of repetitions in the example of a 90 learning curve this means there is a corresponding 10 improvement every time the number of repetitions doubles 
the bottom linemost people usually get better at doing something the more they do it the time and resources spent to do something the first time is probably higher than the time and resources spent on performing the same task for the 100th time this idea of continual improvement is measured through the learning curve the learning curve graphically or mathematically depicts how time spent on completing tasks often decreases over time as proficiency is gained 