An unexpected power law that relates site traffic to ranking by site traffic

How easy is it to estimate your number of site visits from site ranking and vice-versa?
Very easy: double the visits to halve the ranking.
I just blogged at upnaira.blogspot.com about finding the connection, and how rewarding to end up with such a neat graph:

Relationship between Alexa rank and monthly visitors

Here's the data I used:

Site	%Traffic Reach	Est. Monthly Visitors*	Alexa rank
yahoo	20	1000000000	4
craigslist	1.5	75000000	42
meetup	0.2	10000000	465
nairaland	0.08	4000000	1385
jobberman	0.02	1000000	4653
cp-africa	0.004	200000	44206
wemabank	0.00028	14000	557445

*The monthly visitors numbers are estimated by assuming jobberman has 1million visitors per month (I think that corresponds to a ranking around 5k) and that the traffic reach percentage (data given by alexa for each site) is simply number of visitors for this site / a fixed number corresponding to all traffic.  That is, take the traffic to be proportional to the traffic reach percentage.

Well, who wants to do this experiment on a large scale?
Plot Global rank against Traffic-reach % or Traffic-Reach-estimate-of-Monthly-Visitors and see how well the data fit this law.
Alexa.com ranks at least 10million sites, so you could test with that many datapoints. 

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Can you guess the movie titles?

You need to know a little math to figure these out!

Mathematical film titles: check below for some answers

I found another version at spikedmath:

Movie math Quiz: another version

Enjoy!
Do you have more?

A Summary of Mathematics

A lecture recently given at the University of Lagos was almost-verbatim published in The Guardian*.

In the paper titled Abstract Mathematics: Exploring the Universe through imaginative science , Prof. J.O. Olaleru gave a comprehensive layman's explanation of what mathematics and mathematicians care about these days - from number theory and topology to logic and even professional rewards: publications, prizes...
He said a bit about his own work and his beliefs as well.

Johnson Olajire Olaleru, PhD

Kindly download and read the paper:  Abstract Mathematics: Exploring the Universe through imaginative science .  It's a laudable example of maths in the public sphere.
Comments?

* ngrguardiannews.com , Part 1, Part 2

Not maths per se, just a little physics

Foundational Questions www.fqxi.org is a fun place to hang out.  On their latest essay contest, I look forward to reading a few responses:
Reductionist Doubts, by Julian Barbour.  Because the name of the author - winner of the first contest - excites me.
Revising the Topology of the Earth, by Peter Wamai Wanjohi.  Because it's the only recognizably African (it's Kenyan) author name I found among the hundred-or-so submissions.

The biographies are interesting too.   
This is Barbour's: "After completing a PhD in theoretical physics, I became an independent researcher to avoid the publish-or-perish syndrome. For 45 years I have worked on the nature of time, motion, and the quantum theory of the universe. I am the author of two books: The Discovery of Dynamics and The End of Time, in which I argue that time is an illusion. Details of my research work are given at my website platonia.com. Since 2008 I have been a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford."

And this is Wanjohi's: "did advanced level physics but is a health professional specializing in community health and development .Works with the government and development partners. As a freelance physicist, he is a published researcher. His wish is top see a public well knowledgeable of their physical, biological and chemical environments." 

The contrast is typical; there isn't a market for "advanced-level physics" in Nigeria.

Drawing by physicist Setthivoine You

In addition to the essays by Barbour and Wanjohi, I'll try to read the top-four essays so ranked by reviewers (the public):
Black holes or anything else? by Christian Corda
Nature has no faithful mathematical representation by Roger Schlafly
On the Foundational Assumptions of Modern Physics by Benjamin F. Dribus
Patterns in the Fabric of Nature by Steven Weinstein

Anyway, here are the past top essays, I've studied all three.  One of them - Stardrives and Spinoza - is so exciting that I may write a short-story inspired by its future-world soon.
2011 - Is Reality Digital or Analog? by Jarmo Makela
2009 - Stardrives and Spinoza by Louis Crane, answering the question: What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
2008 - The Nature of Time by Julian Barbour

One day, maybe I'll explain the joys and cares of "hyperspecialization and the money to build stuff" in the West, versus "low infrastructure levels, and the freedom to build stuff" out here in the tropics.
Well, it looks like I have already written several research-related posts on my personal blog.  The story starts in 2005 with "The California Institute of Science: I am despondent.  In the past years, I have observed - science, research, and the labours thereof. I have discovered no new science. I have built no new machine. I'm more than two-thirds of the way to my PhD.  However, I can now give an expert report on how scientists do what they do." to this year with "There's no i in research."  I now have a math blog even (you're on it.)  Full circle?