• Sudipta Sinha

The distribution of first digits of real-world observations would not be uniform, but instead follow a trend where measurements with lower first digit (1, 2,) occur more frequently than those with higher first digits (…,8,9). Digit 1 occurs with highest frequency and digit 9 occurs with lowest frequency. The frequency decays monotonically from 1 to 9. Benford’s law, also called the first-digit law, is an observation about the frequency distribution of leading digits in many real-life sets of numerical data which includes electricity bills, street addresses, stock prices, house prices, population numbers, death rates, lengths of rivers, physical and mathematical constants and processes described by power laws (which are very common in nature). The law states that in many naturally occurring collections of numbers, the leading significant digit is likely to be small. For example, in sets which obey the law, the number 1 appears as the most significant digit about 30% of the time, while 9 appears as the most significant digit less than 5% of the time. Benford’s law also makes predictions about the distribution of second digits, third digits, digit combinations, and so on.

First-digit law, Benford’s law, frequency distribution

"Importance of First Natural Number: Benford’s Law", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no.318-322, May-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905W04.pdf

"Importance of First Natural Number: Benford’s Law", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no. pp318-322, May-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905W04.pdf