By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    football analytics
    The Role of Data Analytics in Football Performance
    9 Min Read
    data Analytics instagram stories
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
    15 Min Read
    analyst,women,looking,at,kpi,data,on,computer,screen
    What to Know Before Recruiting an Analyst to Handle Company Data
    6 Min Read
    AI analytics
    AI-Based Analytics Are Changing the Future of Credit Cards
    6 Min Read
    data overload showing data analytics
    How Does Next-Gen SIEM Prevent Data Overload For Security Analysts?
    8 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Benford’s Law, Zipf’s Law and the Pareto Distribution
Share
Notification Show More
Aa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Benford’s Law, Zipf’s Law and the Pareto Distribution
Uncategorized

Benford’s Law, Zipf’s Law and the Pareto Distribution

DavidMSmith
Last updated: 2009/07/10 at 2:51 PM
DavidMSmith
2 Min Read
SHARE

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen several examples of power-law distributions in real life. We saw how Benford’s Law was used to try and detect fraud in the Iranian election. And we saw how Zipf’s Law predicts the distribution of city size. I don’t think we’ve looked at the related Pareto distribution recently (it’s the basis behind the common 80/20 rule), but all three distributions often crop up for statistics that: (i) take values as positive numbers; (ii) range over many different orders of magnitude; (iiii) arise from a complicated combination of largely independent factors; and (iv) have not…

Over the past few weeks we've seen several examples of power-law distributions in real life. We saw how Benford's Law was used to try and detect fraud in the Iranian election. And we saw how Zipf's Law predicts the distribution of city size. I don't think we've looked at the related Pareto distribution recently (it's the basis behind the common 80/20 rule), but all three distributions often crop up for statistics that:

(i) take values as positive numbers;
(ii) range over many different orders of magnitude;
(iiii) arise from a complicated combination of largely independent factors; and
(iv) have not been artificially rounded, truncated, or otherwise constrained in size.

I took those criteria from a great post from Terence Tao that delves into the ins and outs of these surprisingly common distributions, and gives some great examples.  

Terence Tao: Benford's Law, Zipf's Law and the Pareto Distribution (via)

More Read

big data improves

3 Ways Big Data Improves Leadership Within Companies

IT Is Not Analytics. Here’s Why.
Romney Invokes Analytics in Rebuke of Trump
WEF Davos 2016: Top 100 CEO bloggers
In Memoriam: Robin Fray Carey

Link to original post

DavidMSmith July 10, 2009
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

Shutterstock Licensed Photo - 1051059293 | Rawpixel.com
QR Codes Leverage the Benefits of Big Data in Education
Big Data
football analytics
The Role of Data Analytics in Football Performance
Analytics Big Data Exclusive
smart home data
7 Mind-Blowing Ways Smart Homes Use Data to Save Your Money
Big Data
ai low code frameworks
AI Can Help Accelerate Development with Low-Code Frameworks
Artificial Intelligence

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

big data improves
Big DataJobsKnowledge ManagementUncategorized

3 Ways Big Data Improves Leadership Within Companies

6 Min Read
Image
Uncategorized

IT Is Not Analytics. Here’s Why.

7 Min Read

Romney Invokes Analytics in Rebuke of Trump

4 Min Read

WEF Davos 2016: Top 100 CEO bloggers

14 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence
giveaway chatbots
How To Get An Award Winning Giveaway Bot
Big Data Chatbots Exclusive

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?