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On Zipf's law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

Michael Woodroofe  and
Bruce Hill
Michael Woodroofe
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Bruce Hill
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Abstract

A Zipf's law is a probability distribution on the positive integers which decays algebraically. Such laws describe (approximately) a large class of phenomena. We formulate a model for such phenomena and, in terms of our model, give necessary and sufficient conditions for a Zipf's law to hold.

Keywords

CLASSICAL OCCUPANCY PROBLEMLAWS OF LARGE NUMBERS: WEAK CONVERGENCEREGULARLY VARYING FUNCTIONS
Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Applied Probability , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , September 1975 , pp. 425 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1975 

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References

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