information theory

The propensity of an individual to suffer (or cause) more than an average number of accidents. This is of particular interest in industrial and organizational psychology, which is anxious...

Either of the digits 0 or 1 as used in the binary notation. Bits are therefore the basic unit of information in a computer system.

(1916–2001) American mathematician

Born in Gaylord, Michigan, Shannon graduated from the University of Michigan in 1936. He later worked both at the Massachusetts Institute of...

The process of encrypting messages in code or cipher for transmission and decrypting by authorized persons of such messages at the receiving end. The decrypting of code or cipher messages...

The study of communication systems through mathematical models of their operation. It is broadly divided into information theory (the entropy formulation of sources and channels) and coding...

1. The subject matter of a text or message, as distinct from its form or style. Informational texts tend to foreground content (in contrast to aesthetic texts). Content can...

1 Another name for data compaction, although, strictly, data compaction is lossless while data compression need not be (see def. 2).

2 Removal...

A source of information whose output has an alphabet of distinct letters or, in the case of a physical source, whose output is a signal that is discrete in time and amplitude (see discrete...

1. (semiotic model) Any model representing communication as a process of encoding and decoding messages. In information theory, the coding involved is a technical process, but...

1 Measure of disorder or unavailable energy in a thermodynamic system; the measure of increasing disorganization of the universe.

2 See least-work...