[physics/0506213] From old wars to new wars and global terrorism
Reading this gruesome study into fragmentation of ‘attack units’ in modern warfare, that Kottke linked to, it is clear that this is the mathematical model that should be used to examine niches in the ‘Long Tail’ debate.
I.E. The change in power law coefficient over time and its trend compared with G-7 terrorism or non G7-terrorism could be applied to standard co-efficients for low inventory mass market retail, bricks and mortar, vs unlimited inventory, niche market retail, the Internet.
I wonder what the standard power law coefficients are for these.
I still have a hunch that there are some non-linear affects and that fractals play a role in revealing the same pattern for niches within niches etc.