This comes from the always amusing Maciej Zworski, who was giving a talk today in the local mathematical physics meeting.
Zworski's comment was: "It is a theorem from algebraic geometry that all log-log plots look like a straight line."
This is, of course, very close to my heart because of all the power law nonsense I see in the networks literature.
All of my log-log plots look quadratic! What does algebraic geometry say about that?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure it says that you're doing it wrong. In fact, I think those exact words were even used in some of the monographs.
ReplyDeleteJust make sure you don't claim any power laws. :)
Do you have any accessible references on the theorem being referred to?
ReplyDeleteThis isn't an actual theorem. It's just Zworski being Zworski. He likes to make snide remarks like this, so his courses and talks can be quite entertaining. I audited one of his courses in 03 and kep track of his amusing comments.
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