Math Says Yes

Concept

Logarithmic Scale

A way of measuring multiplicative growth, where equal distances mean equal ratios instead of equal differences. Moving from 1 to 10 is the same size jump as moving from 10 to 100 because both are times ten. Log scales are useful when quantities span several orders of magnitude.

Lessons

Uneven first-digit bars descending from tall to short.

First Digits Are Not Always Uniform

Many real-world quantities spread over several orders of magnitude, so smaller first digits appear more often.

Related Facts

4 min · medium

Uneven descending bars sit among abstract receipts and data papers.

The number 1 is suspiciously common

In many real-world datasets, numbers start with 1 far more often than with 9 — about 30.1% of the time.