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Relationship between the principle of least effort and the average cost of information in a zipfian context

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  • Agouzal, Abdellatif
  • Lafouge, Thierry
  • Bertin, Marc

Abstract

From an informetrics perspective, we discuss the relationship between the Least Effort Principle and information cost minimisation, and discuss the implications for Zipf's law. We propose a mathematical proof of a theorem demonstrating that if one minimises the average cost per unit of information, the Least Effort Principle (LEP) will be verified regardless of the effort function chosen. We then show that Zipf's law can be demonstrated on the basis of the two models studied, namely Average Cost per Unit of Information and the Least Effort Principle (LEP).

Suggested Citation

  • Agouzal, Abdellatif & Lafouge, Thierry & Bertin, Marc, 2024. "Relationship between the principle of least effort and the average cost of information in a zipfian context," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:18:y:2024:i:1:s1751157723001037
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2023.101478
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ronald Rousseau, 1990. "Relations between continuous versions of bibliometric laws," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 41(3), pages 197-203, April.
    2. Wang, Qiuping A., 2021. "Principle of least effort vs. maximum efficiency: deriving Zipf-Pareto's laws," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 153(P1).
    3. Yu-Wei Chang, 2016. "Influence of the principle of least effort across disciplines," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(3), pages 1117-1133, March.
    4. Jane Fedorowicz, 1982. "The Theoretical Foundation of Zipf's Law and Its Application to the Bibliographic Database Environment," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 33(5), pages 285-293, September.
    5. Thierry Lafouge & Abdellatif Agouzal & Genevieve Lallich, 2015. "The deconstruction of a text: the permanence of the generalized Zipf law—the inter-textual relationship between entropy and effort amount," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(1), pages 193-217, July.
    6. Agouzal, Abdelatif & Lafouge, Thierry, 2008. "On the relation between the Maximum Entropy Principle and the principle of Least Effort: The continuous case," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 75-88.
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