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Metcalfe's law

American

[met-kafs law] / ˈmɛt kæfs ˈlɔ /

noun

Telecommunications.

the principle that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users: the more users there are in a system, the more value an individual perceives, considered against the cost of joining a network community.

Etymology

Origin of Metcalfe's law

First recorded in 1990-95; named after Robert M. Metcalfe (born 1946), U.S engineer and entrepreneur who helped pioneer the internet in 1970 and invent the Ethernet

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023