power law behavior

Power law behavior describes a pattern where small events are very common, while large events are rare but significantly impactful. In such systems, the frequency of an event decreases proportional to its size raised to a specific power. For example, in earthquakes, tiny tremors happen daily, while huge quakes are rare but cause much more damage. This pattern appears in various fields like economics, biology, and internet traffic. Recognizing power law behavior helps in understanding and predicting phenomena where extreme events, though infrequent, have outsized effects.