Several common probability distributions obey Benford’s law

Guojun Fang and Qihong Chen

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2020, vol. 540, issue C

Abstract: Benford’s law states that the frequency of lower first significant digits(FSD) is higher than that of upper FSD in many naturally produced numbers. The law can be applied to many various fields, so it is important to know which common probability distributions obey Benford’s law. We revisit whether the Log-normal probability distribution obeys the law by using the method of Fourier analysis and numerical simulation. Moreover, we use simulation method to judge whether the Weibull distribution and the Inverse Gamma distribution are close to Benford’s law under some conditions. Our work give some reasons to support why Benford’s law is universal in real world.

Keywords: Benford’s law; Log-normal distribution; Weibull distribution; Inverse Gamma distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:540:y:2020:i:c:s0378437119317649

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2019.123129

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