A newly minted Minnow, one with 500 SP, might not think much of 20 SP in a month. Yet that is a 4% gain meaning, all things being equal, a 240 SP improvement over the year which is a 48% growth rate.

That 48 is the arithmetic growth, but if you compound the monthly 4%, you get 60% growth per year (1.04^12 = 1.6).

My wife sometimes calls me Pedant Man, I have no idea why.