Zipf's Law: Rank-Frequency Analysis
Word frequency follows a power law — rank × frequency ≈ constant
Moby Dick (opening)
Alice in Wonderland (ch.1)
Hamlet (soliloquy)
Frankenstein (opening)
α (Mandelbrot):
1.00
β (shift):
0.0
Fit Power Law
Zipf's Law (1949): the n-th most common word appears with frequency ∝ 1/n. The Mandelbrot extension f(r) = C/(r+β)^α fits better for small ranks. α≈1, β≈0 gives classic Zipf.