[Wikipedia-l] Re: Average Size of Articles and Article Size Evolution

[Ray Saintonge]

Neil Harris wrote:

> Ray Saintonge wrote:
>
>> Daniel Mayer wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> You just gave me a great idea -- How about we have a population 
>>> pyramid on the statistics page? See 
>>> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands
>>>
>> This is an interesting approach.  The article set could be divided 
>> into deciles (or some other suitable sized sample).  I would guess 
>> that the median article size that we currently have is likely fairly 
>> constant. The markers for the deciles are likely similarly constant.  
>> This is, of course, subject to minor sampling variation.  People who 
>> use population pyramids let them be indicators of broad changes in 
>> populations. Statistically significant variations from key markers 
>> would suggest differences in the patterns of participation.
>>
>> Perhaps one of our more mathematically could do an analysis on "The 
>> fractal geometry of Wikipedia participation"
>>
>> Eclecticology
>>
> I'd expect something like a [[Zipf distribution]], if there is a 
> scaling principle operating.

We may both be right.  My interpretation of a Zipfian distribution is 
that it is a one tail curve.  For articles less than median size it 
seems as though the curve for the distribution of article size would be 
a steeply rising one.

Ec