Steven J. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147611
- eISBN:
- 9781400866595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147611.003.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Probability / Statistics
This chapter provides a brief overview of Benford's law. It states Benford's law of digit bias and describes its history. The chapter then discusses the origins of Benford's law and gives numerous ...
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This chapter provides a brief overview of Benford's law. It states Benford's law of digit bias and describes its history. The chapter then discusses the origins of Benford's law and gives numerous examples of data sets that follow this law, as well as some that do not. From these examples this chapter extracts several explanations as to the prevalence of Benford's law. Finally, the chapter closes with a quick summary of many of the diverse situations in which Benford's law holds, and why an observation that began in looking at the wear and tear in tables of logarithms has become a major tool in subjects as diverse as detecting tax fraud and building efficient computers.Less
This chapter provides a brief overview of Benford's law. It states Benford's law of digit bias and describes its history. The chapter then discusses the origins of Benford's law and gives numerous examples of data sets that follow this law, as well as some that do not. From these examples this chapter extracts several explanations as to the prevalence of Benford's law. Finally, the chapter closes with a quick summary of many of the diverse situations in which Benford's law holds, and why an observation that began in looking at the wear and tear in tables of logarithms has become a major tool in subjects as diverse as detecting tax fraud and building efficient computers.
