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What is information?(†)

Information is a precise concept that can be defined mathematically, but its relationship to what we call ‘knowledge’ is not always made clear. Furthermore, the concepts ‘entropy’ and ‘information’, while deeply related, are distinct and must be used with care, something that is not always achieved...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Adami, Christoph
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society Publishing 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4760127/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26857663
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0230
Descripción
Sumario:Information is a precise concept that can be defined mathematically, but its relationship to what we call ‘knowledge’ is not always made clear. Furthermore, the concepts ‘entropy’ and ‘information’, while deeply related, are distinct and must be used with care, something that is not always achieved in the literature. In this elementary introduction, the concepts of entropy and information are laid out one by one, explained intuitively, but defined rigorously. I argue that a proper understanding of information in terms of prediction is key to a number of disciplines beyond engineering, such as physics and biology.