Interesting "Laws"

HungLikeJesus · 12-22-2011, 11:28 AM

I did a quick analysis of the page views of the Image of the Day forum for the last year. Here is the distribution of first digits. I think the analysis would have been better if I included a longer period of time.

All of the 8s are 800 to 899; all of the nines except two are 900 to 999. It may be too small of a distribution, because 90% of the values are between 500 and 4,000.

Lamplighter · 12-22-2011, 12:31 PM

Imma gonna guess...

What if views of IOD are bimodally distributed ( popular vs not-so-popular )

If so, the population of IOD's with less than 1000 views might follow Benford's Law
And, the population of IOD's with more than 1000 views might also follow Benford's Law

So if the graph were drawn with 2 cycles (1-100-1000),
there would be two peaks (bimodal) at the 1's,
each falling off and following the Benford distribution after the 1's.

Otherwise, the IOD's would have to be assumed to be equally popular,
and then the distribution doesn't follow the prediction.

12-22-2011, 11:28 AM	#1
HungLikeJesus Only looks like a disaster tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: above 7,000 feet Posts: 7,208	I did a quick analysis of the page views of the Image of the Day forum for the last year. Here is the distribution of first digits. I think the analysis would have been better if I included a longer period of time. All of the 8s are 800 to 899; all of the nines except two are 900 to 999. It may be too small of a distribution, because 90% of the values are between 500 and 4,000. Attached Images __________________ Keep Your Bodies Off My Lawn SteveDallas's Random Thread Picker.

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12-22-2011, 12:31 PM	#2
Lamplighter Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods Posts: 6,402	Imma gonna guess... What if views of IOD are bimodally distributed ( popular vs not-so-popular ) If so, the population of IOD's with less than 1000 views might follow Benford's Law And, the population of IOD's with more than 1000 views might also follow Benford's Law So if the graph were drawn with 2 cycles (1-100-1000), there would be two peaks (bimodal) at the 1's, each falling off and following the Benford distribution after the 1's. Otherwise, the IOD's would have to be assumed to be equally popular, and then the distribution doesn't follow the prediction.

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