Excerpt
Rank-size distribution is the
distribution of size by rank, in decreasing order of size. For example, if a data set
consists of items of sizes 5, 100, 5, and 8, the rank-size distribution is 100, 8, 5, 5
(ranks 1 through 4). This is also known as the rank-frequency distribution, when the
source data are from a frequency distribution. These are particularly of interest when the
data vary significantly in scale, such as city size or word frequency. These distributions
frequently follow a power law distribution, or less well-known ones such as a stretched
exponential function or parabolic fractal distribution, at least approximately for certain
ranges of ranks; see below.