The accuracy of graphs to describe size distributions

This paper analyses the performance of the graphs traditionally used to study size distributions: histograms, Zipf plots (double logarithmic graphs of rank compared to size) and plotted cumulative density functions. A lognormal distribution is fitted to urban data from three countries (the US, Spain and Italy) over all of the 20th century. We explain the advantages and disadvantages associated with these graphic methods and derive some statistical properties