Taking the leading digit of a numeric column

First-digit analysis can be useful for detecting accounting fraud. When numeric data span several orders of magnitude, the first digits of the data are often not evenly distributed among 1 through 9; instead, 1’s can be expected to appear up to 30% of the time (see Benford’s law on Wikipedia). A uniform distribution in the first digits of accounting data can be a first indication that the data was fabricated, but of course, care should be taken in interpretation.

To take the leading digit of a numeric column:

1. In the Summary view, select the column whose first digit you wish to take
2. Choose Column > Take Leading Digit

By default, the new column’s name reflects the calculation, but you can give it a new name of your choosing. (Note that changing the name will not affect the calculation itself.)

See also:

• Treating a column as categorical data
• Computing the quantiles of a numeric column
• Rounding a numeric column to integer values
• Computing the logarithm of a numeric column

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