Parameter estimation for power-law distributions by maximum likelihood methods
Other Condensed Matter
2007-08-11 v2 Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Abstract
Distributions following a power-law are an ubiquitous phenomenon. Methods for determining the exponent of a power-law tail by graphical means are often used in practice but are intrinsically unreliable. Maximum likelihood estimators for the exponent are a mathematically sound alternative to graphical methods.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0704.1867,
title = {Parameter estimation for power-law distributions by maximum likelihood methods},
author = {Heiko Bauke},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0704.1867},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Supplementary software: http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/users/bauke/Publications/index.html#powerlaws