Claasen's law


Claasen's logarithmic law of usefulness is named after technologist Theo A. C. M. Claasen, who introduced the idea in 1999 when he was CTO of Philips Semiconductors:
The law can also be expressed as:

Examples

System parameters need to increase by a multiple to create a noticeable impact on performance. In the case of RAM, by the law, a 256MB unit is only 1/8 more practically useful than a 128MB unit though the base unit has doubled. It would require a 16384MB unit of RAM to truly double performance under the law.
A modern car is not substantially more useful at getting the occupants from A to B than an older car

Relation to Moore's law

In order to achieve a linear improvement in usefulness over time it is necessary to have an exponential increase in technology over time. Moore's law delivers an exponential increase in technology, and so when Claasen's law is combined with Moore's law it implies a linear improvement in usefulness over time.