Step change
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In common usage a step change happens when a situation changes in a discontinuous way: a big policy change after an election, a currency devaluation, the discovery of gold at Sutters mill for example. That is to say, a change like a step in an otherwise smooth graph.
This concept has been borrowed from mathematics and technology where the phrase step function is rigorously defined.
Catastrophe theory is one mathematical theory used to explain step changes.
