Zipfian distribution

noun

A discrete probability distribution whose rank-frequency distribution is an inverse power law relation.

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Meanings

nounZipfian distribution (plural Zipfian distributions)

plural Zipfian distributions

  1. mathematical statisticsA discrete probability distribution whose rank-frequency distribution is an inverse power law relation.

    A Zipfian distribution occurs when some values appear much more often than others. When you diagram it on a graph with logarithm scales on both axes, you get a straight line (see Figure 12.1).

    2010, Joe Celko, Joe Celko's Analytics and OLAP in SQL, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 108
Cite this entry
APA

Zipfian distribution. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zipfian%20distribution

MLA

“Zipfian distribution.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zipfian%20distribution. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Zipfian distribution,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zipfian%20distribution.

Source: Zipfian distribution on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.