follow the changing patterns

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keannu

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Considering the context, does this "follow" mean "understand" or "just catch up with"? The translation goes "understand" which is one the many meanings of "follow", so I think it's correct, but I'm not sure.

st110
ex)Advertisements have long provided historians with insights into America's social history. A historian, for example, can follow the changing patterns of dieting and weigh reduction by studying newspaper and magazine ads from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, one can see a clear trend toward a heavier and more curvaceous female body. But during the Jazz Age of the 1920s, a preference was quickly established for thinness....
 
Is it like "following the trail will get you to the top of the mountain" or "Can you follow me?" in the lecture of a professor?
Maybe I guess the two terms have similar meanings with unclear distinction, so they seem to find it hard to anwer. As understanding(follow) something also means following something physically.
 
In your example, it means that a historian can take a logical, chronological, step-by-step journey through the patterns of dieting etc. The historian can look chronologically at how dieting and weight loss trends change and metaphorically walk the path which the pattern forms.
 
Thanks a million! My great teacher!!!
 
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