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How would you describe the Power Law in simple words? The Wikipedia entry is too long and verbose. I would like to understand the concept of the power law and how and why it shows up everywhere.

For example, a recent Economist article Cry havoc! And let slip the maths of war, shows that terrorist attacks follow an inverted power law curve.

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    You might find http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/benfords-law-zipfs-law-and-the-pareto-distribution/ useful.2011-04-03

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