arXiv:1401.5794physics.pop-ph
Benford's Law and the Universe
Early discovery. Linked by one identifiable commenter. This paper is outside the main ranking; a mention is not an endorsement.
Abstract
Benford's law predicts the occurrence of the $n^{\mathrm{th}}$ digit of numbers in datasets originating from various sources of the world, ranging from financial data to atomic spectra. It is intriguing that although many features of Benford's law have been proven and analysed, it is still not fully mathematically understood. In this paper we investigate the distances of galaxies and stars by comparing the first, second and third significant digit probabilities with Benford's predictions. It is found that the distances of galaxies follow reasonably well the first digit law and the star distances agree very well with the first, second and third significant digit.
In fact, star distances follow Benford's law very well through multiple digits. https://arxiv.org/abs/1401.5794
kirrentView on HNParent context