Applicability of Zipf's Law in Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescriptions.
Chin Med Sci J
; 37(3): 195-200, 2022 Sep 30.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36321174
ABSTRACT
Objective Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions have been used to cure diseases in China for thousands of years, in which many TCM herbs have no definite common quantity. Some key TCM herbs are commonly used and thus deserve in-depth investigations based on a more acceptable classification method. This study analyzes whether TCM prescriptions follow Zipf's law and attempts to obtain the thresholds of key TCM herbs based on the application of Zipf's law. Methods A total of 84,418 TCM prescriptions were collected and standardized. We tested whether Zipf's law and Zipf's distribution fit the Chinese herb distributions. A linear fitting experiment was performed to verify the relationship between the frequency distribution and frequency of TCM herbs. Results The distribution of TCM herbs in TCM prescriptions conformed to Zipf's law. Accordingly, the thresholds were obtained for the key TCM herbs. Conclusion The distribution of TCM herbs in TCM prescriptions follows Zipf's law.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Prescriptions
/
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Chin Med Sci J
Journal subject:
TERAPIAS COMPLEMENTARES
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China