Apr. 28th, 2021

redfiona99: (Default)
This is the results of the second month of monitoring news articles for which numbers they contain.

March featured the first days I missed (I blame Easter), so I will have to add two days on at the end of the year.

In the 29 days I did manage to capture, 273 numbers were used (~ 9 to 10 per day). This is less than the ~15 per day from February.
Chi-squared table for February )

1 and 8 are the closest to expected. 5 is over-represented. If you add together the sum of all the values of (observed-expected)squared, all divided by the expected, the calculated test statistic is 5.6.

The critical chi squared value for 9 items with only one line is ~ 15.507

The test statistic smaller than the critical value therefore the difference is not significant. This data does not disobey Benford's Law.

If you look at the rolling total of February and March, the numbers are starting to add up. There were 709 digits in headline news articles.

Chi-squared table for February and March combined )

7 and 8 are the closest to expected. 1 remains over-represented, as it was in February. If you add together the sum of all the values of (observed-expected)squared, all divided by the expected, the calculated test statistic is 3.49.

The critical chi squared value for 9 items with only one line is ~ 15.507

The test statistic smaller than the critical value therefore the difference is not significant. This data does not disobey Benford's Law.

Interestingly, as more numbers from articles have been added the calculated test statistic has reduced (February = 8.6, February + March = 3.49). This is what you would expect to see if the numbers in the articles fulfill Benford's law.

Profile

redfiona99: (Default)
redfiona99

June 2025

S M T W T F S
12 34 56 7
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 8th, 2025 07:43 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios