Ok, so lets say you have a data set that consists of items that tend to cap at 2000. Already, half of all possible numbers begin with 1.<p>I think 1 is special, in any base, because it's the first digit used when a new digit gets added. If you're talking about quantities that vary easily by, say, thousands, once it crosses the 10,000 threshold the first digit changes much more slowly.<p>There's more to think about here for sure, though.