And now for a bit of maths...
(I continue to be fascinated with the strange results of probability theory..see the Monty Hall problem)
Did you know... if you take any large set of numerical data from randomly selected statistics (importantly, not 'pure' random numbers) then the number 1 will appear as a leading digit about 30% of the time.
The man who first brought this to light was called Dr. Frank Benford, and thus this strange result is called 'Benford's Law'. It is used in accounting to detect fraud, because, for a non-fraudulent set of accounts, running all the figures through a computer will give the result above - the number 1 appears as the leading digit (e.g. 13.00, 1.15, 1602.38) 30% of the time. A result that is significantly different from this and it's time to call in the auditors!
Check out this page for a fuller description. A nice demonstration of why this is the case can be found at the bottom of the page.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
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3 comments:
WOW - I never knew that. 30.1% is a substantial fraction for a "one" to be first. There must be loads of applications for that.
Keep up with the crazy maths problems.
Man, that's bizarre!
It's good to have you back online, Clare.
Wow. Nerd Alert.
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