References for ZipfDistribution and References in help pages in general
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg122794] References for ZipfDistribution and References in help pages in general
- From: ham sha <hamsha.ir at gmail.com>
- Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:56:21 -0500 (EST)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
Hello everyone, I am going to use ZipfDistribution[Rho] function for doing some statistical calculations but its implementation has confused me and there is no references for it. In its definition they write: The probability for value x and finite n is given by x^-(\[Rho]+1)/ Subsuperscript[H, n, (\[Rho]+1)] and for infinite n given by x^-(\[Rho] +1)/\[Zeta](\[Rho]+1). The definition of the infinite case is different from what one usually finds in technical papers and the internet, e.g. at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf%27s_law . For infinite case, the exponent is 1+Rho in the Mathematica definition while for other papers there is no 1 . Unfortunately Wolfram team hasn't provided any references for its implementation and I am confused by it. Does someone has any suggestions regarding this problem, or does someone knows a reference to clarify the inconsistency of definitions? Generally this is a big problem by the help system of the Mathematica. For another system one often finds a Reference section at the end of help pages which allows users to see the definition and the algorithms used in the implementation. This is unfortunately not true with the Mathematica which is very a powerful system. Thank you in advance, Sincerely, Hamed