Re: Benford's Law

["Alla Linetsky" <alinetsky@home.com>]

The article in New Scientist clearly cautions against bounded, limited
and otherwise non-naturally occurring data. Even in the hardware store
example, where the fraud supposedly occurred, how many items are
likely to be priced at 99 cents? How about $1.99? $9.99? Our
retailers' penchant for manipulating our feelings (and wallets) by
fixing prices would make Benford's law unsuitable to small retail
operations.

As for weather, especially if one uses the Fahrenheit measure, how
often does the temperature in an average American city exceed 100F or
drop below 20F? Not 30 percent of the time, I would guess, although
the law may well hold for Celcius degrees.

Alla Linetsky