Discussion on Benford's Law and its Application

Abstract

The probability that a number in many naturally occurring tables of numerical data has first significant digit $d$ is predicted by Benford's Law $\mathrm{Prob}(d)={\log }_{10}(1+\frac{1}{d}),d=1,2>...,9$. Illustrations of Benford's Law from both theoretical and real-life sources on both science and social science areas are shown in detail with some novel ideas and generalizations developed solely by the authors of this paper. Three tests, Chi-Square test, total variation distance, and maximum deviations are adopted to examine the fitness of the datasets to Benford's distribution. Finally, applications of Benford's Law are summarized and explored to reveal the power of this mathematical principle.

13 pages, 4 figures, 9 tables; corrected typos