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A set of numbers is said to satisfy Benford's law if the leading digit d (d ∈ {1, ..., 9}) occurs with probability,

$ P(d)=\log_{10}(d+1)-\log_{10}d$

With Birkhoff's Ergodic Theorem is possible to prove that the sequence $2^n$( for example) satisfies the Benford's law.

The Fibonacci sequence satisfies Berford's law?

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    Since the tribonacci sequence is also $T_n \approx Ax_1^n$, then by Calvin Lin's argument, the tribonacci numbers follow Benford's law as well.2016-02-26

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Yes.If $x$ is a real value that is not a rational power of 10, then $x^n$ will satisfy Benford's law. To see this, note that $\log x$ is irrational, hence consider $\log x$ looping around the unit circle (fractional part). When $ \log d < \{ n\log x \} < \log (d+1)$, then $x^n$ will have a starting digit of $d$. The sequence $\{ n \log x\}$ is uniformly dense on the unit circle, hence with probability $\log (d+1) - \log d$, $x^n$ will have a starting digit of $d$.

To apply this to the Fibonacci sequence, note that $F_n = A \phi^n + B \phi^{-n}$ and $\phi^{-1}< 1$ hence 'can be ignored'. So $\{ \log F_n \} \approx \{ \log A + n \log \phi \} $, and we have the result as needed.


The reason why we need $x$ to not be a rational power of 10, is so that $\log x$ is not a rational number. If it was, then $n \log x$ will be fixed points around the unit circle, and the starting digits will be extremely fixed. Whereas, when $\log x$ is irrational, it is standard to show that $\log x$ loops around the circle, doesn't return to the starting point, is periodic, hence has uniform density.

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    While the fact that the irrational rotation of the circle is ergodic is a classical result of ergodic theory, this result actually predates ergodic theory. Take any irrational number, let the fractional part be $\theta$, consider $N = \lfloor \frac {1}{\theta} \rfloor$, look at the values $\{ \theta, 2 \theta, \ldots, N \theta \}$, compare them with the values $\{ (N+1) \theta, (N+2) \theta, \ldots, 2N \theta \}$, which is a rotation by $ 1 - N \theta$ (which is less than $\theta$ by construction). This should be sufficient for you to proceed.2012-12-29