q-exponential distribution in urban agglomeration

L. C. Malacarne, R. S. Mendes, and E. K. Lenzi
Phys. Rev. E 65, 017106 – Published 21 December 2001
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Abstract

Usually, the studies of distributions of city populations have been reduced to power laws. In such analyses, a common practice is to consider cities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants. Here, we argue that the distribution of cities for all ranges of populations can be well described by using a q-exponential distribution. This function, which reproduces the Zipf-Mandelbrot law, is related to the generalized nonextensive statistical mechanics and satisfies an anomalous decay equation.

  • Received 10 January 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.65.017106

©2001 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

L. C. Malacarne and R. S. Mendes

  • Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Avenida Colombo 5790, 87020-900, Maringá-PR, Brazil

E. K. Lenzi

  • Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, R. Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil

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Vol. 65, Iss. 1 — January 2002

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