You will learn that Loops & Cycles are repetitions of animated actions which lend themselves to repeatability. They are sometimes used interchangeably. Animators use Loops & Cycles often. In fact, in the White Hat recipes, "looping" and "cycling" have been used often. The Bouncing Ball is a Cycle that Loops. Or to put it another way, it is a Loop that that Cycles. They can be used interchangeably.
Why Is This Important?
Loops & Cycles save time in animation. Examples include: tires spinning, birds flapping, balls bouncing in place, flags waving, etc. Used in a sentence, an animator might be heard to say, "I'm going to create a loop of this car tire spinning, and cycle it for two seconds". Or "I'm going to create a cycle of this car tire spinning, and loop it for two seconds."