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Related papers: Base Dependence of Benford Random Variables

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In this paper, we will see that the proportion of d as p th digit, where p > 1 and d $\in$ 0, 9, in data (obtained thanks to the hereunder developed model) is more likely to follow a law whose probability distribution is determined by a…

Other Statistics · Statistics 2018-05-04 Stéphane Blondeau da Silva

Feller's classic text 'An Introduction to Probability Theory and its Applications' contains a derivation of the well known significant-digit law called Benford's law. More specifically, Feller gives a sufficient condition ("large spread")…

Probability · Mathematics 2010-05-17 Arno Berger , Theodore P. Hill

We show how Benford's Law (BL) for first, second, ..., digits, emerges from the distribution of digits of numbers of the type $a^{R}$, with $a$ any real positive number and $R$ a set of real numbers uniformly distributed in an interval $[…

Probability · Mathematics 2009-09-22 Victor Romero-Rochin

Benford's Law describes the prevalence of small numbers as the leading digits of numbers in many sets of integers. We prove a variant of Benford's law for many positive-density subsets of the primes. This follows from a more general result…

Number Theory · Mathematics 2022-07-18 Henry Glunz

In the literature, Benford's Law is considered for base-b expansions where b>1 is an integer. In this paper, we investigate the distribution of leading "digits" of a sequence of positive integers under other expansions such as Zeckendorf…

Number Theory · Mathematics 2023-09-04 Sungkon Chang , Steven J. Miller

We study multi-digit correlations in Benford sequences b^n for integer bases 2 <= b <= 1000, measuring dependence via conditional mutual information (CMI). A resonance ratio derived from the continued fraction expansion of log_10(b)…

Number Theory · Mathematics 2026-03-20 James M. Hyman

According to Benford's Law, many data sets have a bias towards lower leading digits (about $30\%$ are $1$'s). The applications of Benford's Law vary: from detecting tax, voter and image fraud to determining the possibility of match-fixing…

This article provides a concise overview of the main mathematical theory of Benford's law in a form accessible to scientists and students who have had first courses in calculus and probability. In particular, one of the main objectives here…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2020-04-22 Arno Berger , Theodore P. Hill

Benford's law is an empirical law predicting the distribution of the first significant digits of numbers obtained from natural phenomena and mathematical tables. It has been found to be applicable for numbers coming from a plethora of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-09-05 Ameya Deepak Rane , Utkarsh Mishra , Anindya Biswas , Aditi Sen De , Ujjwal Sen

There are now many theoretical explanations for why Benford's law of digit bias surfaces in so many diverse fields and data sets. After briefly reviewing some of these, we discuss in depth recurrence relations. As these are discrete…

Probability · Mathematics 2019-11-22 Madeleine Farris , Noah Luntzlara , Steven J. Miller , Lily Shao , Mengxi Wang

The Newcomb-Benford law, also known as the first-digit law, gives the probability distribution associated with the first digit of a dataset, so that, for example, the first significant digit has a probability of $30.1$ % of being $1$ and…

Popular Physics · Physics 2021-08-25 Andrea Burgos , Andrés Santos

In this paper, we present a possible theoretical explanation for benford's law. We develop a recursive relation between the probabilities, using simple intuitive ideas. We first use numerical solutions of this recursion and verify that the…

Other Statistics · Statistics 2012-11-30 H. M. Bharath

We derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the sum of M independent continuous random variables modulo 1 to converge to the uniform distribution in L^1([0,1]), and discuss generalizations to discrete random variables. A consequence…

Probability · Mathematics 2010-09-15 Steven J. Miller , Mark J. Nigrini

Using the sum invariance property of Benford random variables, we prove that an $n$-digit Benford variable converges to a Benford variable as $n$ approaches infinity.

Probability · Mathematics 2016-04-04 Azar Khosravani , Constantin Rasinariu

Benford's law is a famous law in statistics which states that the leading digits of random variables in diverse data sets appear not uniformly from 1 to 9; the probability that d (d=1,...,9) appears as a leading digit is given by…

Probability · Mathematics 2019-05-07 Kazufumi Ozawa

Measuring a strength of dependence of random variables is an important problem in statistical practice. In this paper, we propose a new function valued measure of dependence of two random variables. It allows one to study and visualize…

Methodology · Statistics 2014-05-12 Teresa Ledwina

We consider the problem of bounding large deviations for non-i.i.d. random variables that are allowed to have arbitrary dependencies. Previous works typically assumed a specific dependence structure, namely the existence of independent…

Probability · Mathematics 2018-11-06 Christoph H. Lampert , Liva Ralaivola , Alexander Zimin

Benford's law states that for many random variables X > 0 its leading digit D = D(X) satisfies approximately the equation P(D = d) = log_{10}(1 + 1/d) for d = 1,2,...,9. This phenomenon follows from another, maybe more intuitive fact,…

Probability · Mathematics 2008-06-25 Lutz Duembgen , Christoph Leuenberger

We address the task of identifying anomalous observations by analyzing digits under the lens of Benford's law. Motivated by the crucial objective of providing reliable statistical analysis of customs declarations, we answer one major and…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-07-14 Lucio Barabesi , Andrea Cerioli , Andrea Cerasa , Domenico Perrotta

A simple method to derive parametric analytical extensions of Benford's law for first digits of numerical data is proposed. Two generalized Benford distributions are considered, namely the two-sided power Benford distribution and the new…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2007-06-13 Werner Hurlimann