IEEE Transactions on Reliability 31(2), 132-134.
ISSN/ISBN: 0018-9529 DOI: Not available at this time.
Abstract: It has been observed that the decimal parts of failure-rate and MTTF values in tables tend to have a logarithmic distribution. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is given. When such tables have been generated they should be examined to see if the anticipated distribution is present; should that not be the case, a systematic error might well be present. Such testing is one practical application of the observation. The decimal-values from long lists of data quite often tend to have a logarithmic distribution as pointed out by Newcom and Benford. The phenomenon may be explained in several different ways, depending upon the nature of the data. References to their papers and those by other authors are given. The reader may turn to tables in his own field of interest; such tables will in all likelihood also show the same regularity
Bibtex:
@article {,
AUTHOR = {Becker, Peter W.},
TITLE = {Patterns in Listings of Failure-Rate and MTTF Values and Listings of Other Data},
JOURNAL = {IEEE Transactions on Reliability},
VOLUME = {31},
NUMBER = {2},
YEAR = {1982},
PAGES = {132--134},
ISSN = {0018-9529},
}
Reference Type: Journal Article
Subject Area(s): Computer Science, Statistics