Table 2 Appropriate data for Benford analysis

Likely Appropriate Data

Examples

Datasets spanning several orders of magnitude

World country populations across time

Data derived from natural phenomena

Mathematical and physical constants

Data with a positively skewed distribution, where the mean is greater than the median

Much ecological data such as river lengths

Sets of numbers derived from combinations or functions of numbers

Regression coefficients of papers within a journal

Likely Inappropriate Data

Examples

Sets of assigned numbers or those driven more by human than natural processes

Sample or participant identification numbers, house prices

Data that does not span several orders of magnitude (although we may apply the law to subsequent digits to the first)

Human heights, some stock market indexes

Data with an expected specific non-positively skewed distribution

Binomial survival probability of polar bears across seasons