The disclosure relates to a method for estimating the number of leader vectors with norm lp equal to rδp,d, of dimension d, having co-ordinates which are lower than, or equal to k. The method is characterized in that r p delta, d is determined by the sum of the results of a function T(Xi) for i varying between 1 and d, the function T(Xi) providing, for at least some of the leader vectors, the result of the division of the co-ordinate Xi raised to the power p by a delta precision factor, the result of the division being rounded to the nearest whole number. The method does not comprise a step of determining leader vectors.