NIST

Zipfian distribution

(definition)

Definition: A distribution of probabilities of occurrence that follows Zipf's law.

Also known as Yule distribution.

Note: The distribution of words is often proportional to a function like 1/na.

Author: PEB


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Entry modified 17 December 2004.
HTML page formatted Wed Mar 13 12:42:46 2019.

Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "Zipfian distribution", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed. 17 December 2004. (accessed TODAY) Available from: https://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/zipfian.html