2005•Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral ScienceRequires access
Information Theory
Patrick Mair, Alexander von Eye
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Abstract
Abstract Communication and information theory were founded by Shannon (1948). Shannon and Weaver (1949) developed the classical system of communication and the mathematical bases of communication. Information theory is concerned with measuring the degree to which a message provides one with knowledge one did not possess before. The broadest understanding of information theory includes all problems for which it is sensible to use the word information in its usual sense. The amount of information that is transmitted is scaled in units of entropy . Information theory allows one to analyze and assess a situation in which a signal that was selected from an a priori specified set is transmitted through a channel with limited capacity. The output of the channel is not determined by the input. Modern applications of information theory can be found in electronics and in the social sciences.