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Benford's Law - anyone have their own examples?

 
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Dec15-11, 01:07 AM   #1
 

Benford's Law - anyone have their own examples?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford's_law

Anyone here have their own examples? I found it applies to the tonnage of steel beam produced where I am working.30% of the time the weight started with a one.
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Jan4-12, 08:59 AM   #2
 
It's important to understand why Benford's works (because there are many causes where false positives and false negatives can occur). Basically you have to have a random process generating the numbers.

A simply accounting example that doesn't pass Benford yet is perfectly legitimate is an ensemble of cash flows resulting from a fixed contractual amount. It's also quite easy to fake a Benford distribution.
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