Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD)
Definition
A practical Benford conformity measure that averages the absolute differences between observed and expected proportions across all leading digits, with Nigrini benchmarks classifying conformity as close, acceptable, marginal, or non-conforming.
Related terms
- Benford's Law
- The empirical observation that in naturally occurring numerical data spanning multiple orders of magnitude, the leading digit d appears with probability log10(1...
- Chi-square test
- A goodness-of-fit test comparing the observed digit frequencies in a dataset to the expected Benford frequencies, producing a test statistic that is...
- Second-digit test
- Analysis of the second significant digit in isolation, where 0 is expected to appear about 11.97% of the time. A spike in...
- Two-digit test
- An extension of Benford's Law to the first two significant digits, producing 90 possible combinations each with a predicted frequency, which is...
- Z-statistic
- A per-digit test that calculates whether the deviation between an observed frequency and the Benford expected frequency for that single digit is...
Explained in
- Benford's Law and Digital AnalysisA practical Benford conformity measure that averages the absolute differences between observed and expected proportions across all leading digits, with Nigrini...