What's the most popular number in Hacker News titles?
An analysis of Hacker News titles reveals that the number '2' is the most frequently occurring digit, largely due to version numbers and 'Web 2.0' references. The author debunks the idea that this follows Benford's Law, attributing the frequency to common formatting patterns.
Why it matters
It serves as a cautionary tale about interpreting data patterns without understanding the underlying context or data generation process.
Two consecutive titles on the HN front page yesterday had a 6 in them. This means nothing . But it’s the sort of nothing that lodges in your brain until you do something about it, so what is the most popular number in Hacker News titles?
ClickHouse hosts the full HN dataset in their public playground , and I am exactly the kind of person who finds that exciting. The obvious query is barely a query at all:
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