Benford's Law and Possibilities for Its Use in Governmental Statistics
Benford's Law (sometimes also called Benford's Distribution or Benford's Test) is one of the possible tools for verification of a data structure in a given file regarding the relative frequencies of occurrence of the fi rst (or second, etc.) digit from the left. If it is used as a goo...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Czech Statistical Office
2015-06-01
|
| Series: | Statistika: Statistics and Economy Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.czso.cz/documents/10180/20550317/32019715q2054.pdf/ab281a2e-6a14-44c6-972a-be1d5fefd026?version=1.0 |
| Summary: | Benford's Law (sometimes also called Benford's Distribution or Benford's Test) is one of the possible tools for verification of a data structure in a given file regarding the relative frequencies of occurrence of the fi rst (or second, etc.) digit from the left. If it is used as a goodness-of-fi t test on sample data, there are usually no problems with its interpretation. However, certain factual questions arise in connection with validity of Benford's Law in large data sets in governmental statistics; such questions should be resolved before the law is used. In this paper we discuss the application potential of Benford's Law when working with extensive data sets in the areas of economic and social statistics. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1804-8765 1804-8765 |