Finally, as part of its efforts to remain competitive, JLE tries to keep up with the latest in production technology. This is especially important in the highly competitive lawn mower line, where competitors can gain a real advantage if they develop more cost$-$effective means of production. The lawn mower division therefore spends a great deal of effort in testing new technology. When new production technology is introduced, firms often experience learning, resulting in a gradual decrease in the time required to produce successive units. Generally, the rate of improvement declines until the production time levels off. One example is the production of a new design for lawn mower engines. To determine the time required to produce these engines, JLE produced $50$ units on itsproduction line; test results are given on the worksheet Engines in the database. Because JLE is continually developing new technology, understanding the rate of learning can be useful in estimating future production costs without having to run extensive prototype trials, and Ms$.$ Bloomington would like a better handle on this.