Article
Article
Information theory
Article By:
Gilbert, Edgar N. Formerly, AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey.
Last reviewed:August 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.344000
A branch of communication theory devoted to problems in coding. A unique feature of information theory is its use of a numerical measure of the amount of information gained when the contents of a message are learned. Information theory relies heavily on the mathematical science of probability. For this reason the term information theory is often applied loosely to other probabilistic studies in communication theory, such as signal detection, random noise, and prediction. See also: Electrical communications
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