[ArchetypalArchie]

my spidey sense is tingling..

4

behold the quaternity

my god...

[yippleflipple]

26?

[angrybill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('angrybill', 'I') will publish the results when completed.
This would be easier if an administrator could allow for buttons of 1-99, otherwise you will need to type in your number.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The original question was asked: Pick a number from 1 through 99 but in reality I could have said just pick a number because the only number in this study is the first-digit law or Bedford's Law. leading # Number of occurances % Benfords Law
1 10 24.39% 1 30.10%
2 4 9.76% 2 17.60%
3 5 12.20% 3 12.50%
4 5 12.20% 4 9.70%
5 2 4.88% 5 7.90%
6 5 12.20% 6 6.70%
7 5 12.20% 7 5.80%
8 2 4.88% 8 5.10%
9 3 7.32% 9 4.60%
Total # 41 100.00% 100.00%
Conclusion:

[angrybill]

# topics/posts leading # % Benfords Law
1 20 33.33% 1 30.10%
2 14 23.33% 2 17.60%
3 8 13.33% 3 12.50%
4 4 6.67% 4 9.70%
5 5 8.33% 5 7.90%
6 2 3.33% 6 6.70%
7 5 8.33% 7 5.80%
8 0 0.00% 8 5.10%
9 2 3.33% 9 4.60%
Total # 60 100.00% 100.00%
What I did here is take all the leading digits from the main forum page and since these are random numbers they do indeed conform to Benford's Law, at least more so than what our choices of numbers were (probably because some we chose birthdays and ages). I think this is interesting and hope you'll have the time to read and test it yourself in some way. A great new year for all.

[jasonraymondson]

no more weed for you

[yippleflipple]

it's 5! how could i have been so blind

[Daniel_Plainview]

Benford distribution:



Randomly selected street addresses:

[angrybill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoomWarrior', '[')b]Benford distribution:



Randomly selected street addresses:

[yippleflipple]

this is really interesting.. is there something specific or fundamental that causes this shape in nature?? Im no math whiz but seems like it can be applied to human behavior, or maybe thats just me

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yippleflipple', 't')his is really interesting.. is there something specific or fundamental that causes this shape in nature?? Im no math whiz but seems like it can be applied to human behavior, or maybe thats just me

[yippleflipple]

the first two lines explains it i guess... the rest kind of made my eyes glaze over, but thanks for taking the time anyway, good to know theres people that know that kind of stuff

[angrybill]

I'm getting errors when trying to post a response but here goes again.
All, To clarify a bit because as I understand it, Benford's Law applies to "scalable" numbers, that is, numbers which can be measured and converted from one scale to another, such as currency, distance, mass, weight, temperature, time or energy.

[3aidlillahi]

Cool. Thanks for teaching us about this. Did you study this in a math class (if so, which?) or just random knowledge that you know?

It's really interesting how so much of the physical world is governed by laws of numbers and such. 'Tis just probability I presume. There's a few other neat laws out there.

For instance, in most cases, using scalable numbers, ranked entities will possess a specific multiple more of whatever item is being ranked. For instance, NYC is the US's largest city and thus will have roughly twice as many inhabitants as the second largest city. NYC has about 8.3 million (urban) while LA has 3.8 million. That's close enough. Chicago at 2.8 million has roughly 1/3 the population of NYC. Houston (#4) has 1/4 and so on and so forth. Thus, the general rule is 1/n, where n is the difference in rank. It doesn't work as well as Benford's Law, but it's close enough.

[angrybill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', 'C')ool. Thanks for teaching us about this. Did you study this in a math class (if so, which?) or just random knowledge that you know?
It's really interesting how so much of the physical world is governed by laws of numbers and such. 'Tis just probability I presume. There's a few other neat laws out there.

For instance, in most cases, using scalable numbers, ranked entities will possess a specific multiple more of whatever item is being ranked. For instance, NYC is the US's largest city and thus will have roughly twice as many inhabitants as the second largest city. NYC has about 8.3 million (urban) while LA has 3.8 million. That's close enough. Chicago at 2.8 million has roughly 1/3 the population of NYC. Houston (#4) has 1/4 and so on and so forth. Thus, the general rule is 1/n, where n is the difference in rank. It doesn't work as well as Benford's Law, but it's close enough.

[angrybill]

Well, it's the beginning of tax season so compare the leading digits on your tax lines and see where you are at on Benford's Law to understand the chances of being selected for an audit.