Benford’s Law isn’t actually a statistical principle, but it has significant statistical components, implications, and rationale. Conduct some basic research into this law and consider some situations in which engineering might deal with naturally occurring datasets that could be evaluated or described using it. Think about what you’ve learned about probability and how it can help explain why data behaves as described by Benford.
Write and submit an essay that uses the principles of probability covered in this class to explain the basic observations enabled by Benford’s Law. Offer some suggestions for how Benford’s Law might be useful in one or more engineering situations, and why you think so. (Hint: Think in terms of an engineering application where you might want to validate that arriving data is real.)
To earn credit with this assignment, the submitted essay must be well-written, original, cleanly presented, and offer a complete discussion of the topic. It should be engagingly written at a serious junior undergraduate academic level. Every year I reject one or two.
The zero points for this assignment is because it is optional. Up to 100 points will be added to the Homework assignment group based on the quality of the essay submitted. The quality of your essay matters much more than its quantitative length, but — as a general guide — a successful submission to this assignment might range from 1,000 to 2,000 words depending upon whether you include any charts or graphs (make sure they are your original material, not something copied) to support what you say.
Use and cite any sources you like. I recommend these two sources:
- Collins (2017) Using Excel and Benford’s Law to detect fraud.pdfDownload Collins (2017) Using Excel and Benford’s Law to detect fraud.pdf
- Coman (2018) Using Benford’s Law in the analysis of socio-economic data.pdf
Requirements: 1000-2000 words | .doc file
