The Newcomb-Benford law and its application to mathematical sets: a statistical approach

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35819/remat2025v11id7660

Keywords:

Newcomb-Benford law, Mathematical sets, statistical tests

Abstract

This study investigates the adherence of different mathematical sets to the Newcomb-Benford Law through rigorous statistical tests and computational analysis. Ten numerical sequences were analyzed, including Mersenne Numbers, powers of three to nine, the Lucas Sequence and Triangular Numbers. To extract the first and second digits, Excel and RStudio software were used, applying robust statistical tests, such as chi-square, Z-statistics and Kolmogorov-Smirnov. The results indicated that nine of the ten numerical sets followed the distribution expected by the Newcomb-Benford Law, with the exception of Triangular Numbers, whose low variation in the order of magnitude may have impacted their adherence to the law. The results of this study reinforce the importance of Benford's Law as a statistical tool for analyzing numerical patterns.

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Author Biographies

References

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Published

2025-09-08

Issue

Section

Mathematics

How to Cite

SOUZA, Bruno Rios; PAIXÃO, Ana Carla Percontini da. The Newcomb-Benford law and its application to mathematical sets: a statistical approach. REMAT: Revista Eletrônica da Matemática, Bento Gonçalves, RS, Brasil, v. 11, p. e307, 2025. DOI: 10.35819/remat2025v11id7660. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ifrs.edu.br/index.php/REMAT/article/view/7660. Acesso em: 11 jun. 2026.