Zipf’s Law

Chucky Chung

1
1. PMF

∑
N
Let HN,s = k −s , N ∈ Z+
k=1

x−s
f (x) = , x = 1, 2, ..., N
HN,s

2. Sum to 1.

∑
f (x)
x∈Sx

∑N
x−s
=
x=1
HN,s

1 ∑ −s
N
1
= x = HN,s = 1
HN,s x=1 HN,s

3. Expected value

E[X k ]

∑
= xk f (x)
x∈Sx

∑
N
x−s
= xk
x=1
HN,s

1 ∑ k−s
N
= x
HN,s x=1

2
 1 HN,k−s
= HN,k−s =
HN,s HN,s

HN,1−s
E[X] =
HN,s

4. Variance

HN,2−s
E[X 2 ] =
HN,s

V ar(X)

= E[X 2 ] − E[X]2

2
HN,2−s HN,1−s
= − 2
HN,s HN,s

5. MGF

∑
= etx f (x)
x∈Sx

∑
N
x−s
tx
e
x=1
HN,s

1 ∑ ext
N

HN,s x=1 xs