When Working for the Brooklyn District Attorney, Investigator Robert Burton

question 45

Essay

When working for the Brooklyn District Attorney, investigator Robert Burton analyzed the leading digits of the
amounts from 784 checks issued by seven suspect companies. The frequencies were found to be
0, 12, 0, 73, 482, 186, 8, 23, and 0, and those digits correspond to the leading digits of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9,
respectively. If the observed frequencies are substantially different from the frequencies expected with Benford's
Law, the check amounts appear to result from fraud. Use a 0.05 significance level to test for goodness-of-fit
with Benford's Law. Does it appear that the checks are the result of fraud?

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Definitions:

Sleep

A natural and periodic state of rest for the mind and body, characterized by altered consciousness and reduced sensory activity.

P-value

The P-value is a statistical metric that helps determine the significance of the results from a hypothesis test, measuring the probability of observing the test results under the null hypothesis.

Average Amount

The sum of a set of values divided by the number of values, often used to describe the central tendency of a data set.

Sleep

A natural state involving mind and body where consciousness is altered, sensory activities are significantly reduced, and almost all voluntary muscles are inhibited.