Talk:Lotka's law

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There is something wrong with the logic behind this table. If you multiple it out you have 238 articles as (10 x 1 + 9 x 1 + 8 x 2 + 7 x 2 + 6 x 3 + 5 x 4 + 4 x 3 + 3 x 11 + 2 x 25 + 1 x 45) = 238 and 100 writers. So the average here is 2.4 articles per writer not 1 article per writer as claimed

Yet it claimed to have an average of one per writer.

Could someone who knows please correct the table. BernardZ 05:09, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

The table is a strange way of stating the law, which is not really a law, per se, but a prediction, like Moore's Law. The law claims that for a given field, there is an inverse square relationship that exists between the number of discrete contributions by any one persons working in that field, and the number of peers with a similar contribution rate.

So, if you ask yourself: "I wonder of the 100 people who publish in this field, how many peers, Y, have contributed just as many articles, X, as Gary who has contributed 12."

For this question, the law takes this form:

y=1/x²

y=1/12²

y=1/144

y=.694444

So, we see that Gary is most likely the most prolific author in his field. We also note that Gary is probably padding his CV. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.207.239.115 (talk) 22:37, 25 January 2008 (UTC)