Published: 2018-08-181

The Emergent and Universal Nature of Zapf’s Law in Science

Marek Szydłowski , Paweł Tambor
Humanities and Natural Sciences
Section: Articles
https://doi.org/10.31648/hip.408

Abstract

In the paper we discuss Zipf’s law and its variety o f applications in the broad range of scientific disciplines from physics, biology, music to sociology and economics. Our analyses are placed in the context o f the philosophical debate on complexity and emergence in science. We show that Zipf’s law has the form of power-law scaling and in its nature is emergent and derivable from a more fundamental theory (the theory o f stochastic processes). During this reconstruction we are dealing with a methodological type of emergence.

Keywords:

Zipf’s law, power-law relations, complexity, emergence

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Citation rules

Szydłowski, M., & Tambor, P. (2018). The Emergent and Universal Nature of Zapf’s Law in Science. Humanities and Natural Sciences, (21), 61–78. https://doi.org/10.31648/hip.408

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