Some properties of the optimal representation of numbers are investigated. This representation, which is to the base-e, is examined for coding of integers. An approximate representation without fractions that we call WF is introduced and compared with base-2 and base-3 representations, which are next to base-e in efficiency. Since trees are analogous to number representation, we explore the relevance of the statistical optimality of the base-e system for the understanding of complex system behavior and of social networks. We show that this provides a new theoretical explanation for the nature of the power law exhibited by many open complex systems. In specific, we show that the power law distribution most often proposed for such systems has a form that is similar to that derived from the optimal base-e representation.
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