This book is devoted to the theory of probabilistic information measures and their application to coding theorems for information sources and noisy channels. Raginsky these notes provide a graduatelevel introduction to the mathematics of information theory. Shannon published in bell system technical journal in 1948. Cybernetics, systems theory, information theory and. Claude shannon and the making of information theory. Unlike many books, which refer to the shannons measure of information smi as entropy, this book makes a clear distinction between the smi and entropy. Now, although this is a tutorial of this subject, information theory is a subtle and difficult concept. As with previous books by the author, this book aims at a clear and mysteryfree presentation of the central concept in information theory the shannons measure of information. Source coding theorem, kraftmcmillan inequality, ratedistortion theorem. Explore the history of communication from signal fires to the information age. Information theory was not just a product of the work of claude shannon. This book presents the fundamental concepts of information theory in a friendlysimple language and is devoid of all kinds of fancy and pompous statements made by. Visual telegraphs case study decision tree exploration. Overview of central topics in information theory and coding.
To sum it up, if you want to really understand what entropy means in terms of information theory, then this is the book for it. We will not attempt in the continuous case to obtain our results with the greatest generality, or with the extreme. Journey into information theory computer science khan academy. Shannons information theory t his equation was published in the 1949 book the mathematical theory of communication, cowritten by claude shannon and warren weaver. The intent is to describe as clearly as possible the fundamental issues involved in these subjects, rather than covering all aspects in an encyclopedic fashion. Originally developed by claude shannon in the 1940s, information theory laid the foundations for the digital revolution, and is now an essential tool in.
Claude shannon wrote the the magna carta of the information age and conceived of the basic concept underlying all digital computers. The eventual goal is a general development of shannons mathematical theory of communication, but much of the space is devoted to the tools and methods. Pdf a brief introduction on shannons information theory. This book is an updated version of the information theory classic, first published in 1990. Information theory is a framework for understanding the transmission of data and the effects of complexity and interference with these transmissions. Information theory a tutorial introduction o information. Information theory a tutorial introduction is a thrilling foray into the world of information theory by james v stone. About onethird of the book is devoted to shannon source and channel. Jimmy soni and rob goodman offer a long overdue, insightful, and humane portrait of this eccentric and towering genius. Entropy and mutual information the most fundamental quantity in information theory is entropy shannon and weaver, 1949. Originally developed by claude shannon in the 1940s, the theory of information laid the foundations for the digital revolution, and is now an essential tool in deep space communication, genetics, linguistics, data compression, and brain sciences. A brief introduction on shannons information theory old version february 2016.
The mathematical theory of information by shannon and weaver in pdf format 336kb, which is also freely available from the. It was originally proposed by claude shannon in 1948 to find fundamental limits on signal processing and communication operations such as data compression, in a landmark paper titled a mathematical theory of communication. I used information and coding theory by jones and jones as the course book, and supplemented it with various material, including covers book already cited on this page. Claude shannon may be considered one of the most influential person of the 20th century, as he laid out the foundation of the revolutionary information theory. Without claude shannons information theory there would. Shannonshannon, claude elwood, 19162001, american applied mathematician, b. Part of the springer series in synergetics book series sssyn, volume 47. Information theory a tutorial introduction o information theory. Formal theories of information from shannon to semantic. In fact, once the power of shannons results became evident, the title of his work changed from a mathematical theory of communication to the mathematical theory a good, modern reference for information theory is cover and thomas 2006. It was originally proposed by claude shannon in 1948 to find fundamental.
And the best way ive found is to explain some of the brilliant ideas he had. I taught an introductory course on information theory to a small class. We study quantum mechanics for quantum information theory, we give important unit protocols of teleportation, superdense coding, etc. He showed how information could be quantified with absolute precision, and demonstrated the essential unity of all information media. These lecture notes is a tribute to the beloved thomas m. The life and work of information theorys founding father. Most closely associated with the work of the american electrical engineer claude shannon in the mid20th century, information theory is chiefly of interest to communication engineers, though some of the concepts have been adopted and used in such fields as.
This task will allow us to propose, in section 10, a formal reading of the concept of shannon information, according to which the epistemic and the physical views are different possible models of the formalism. We also present the main questions of information theory, data compression and error correction, and state shannons theorems. A tutorial introduction is a highly readable first account of shannon s mathematical theory of communication, now known as information theory. Shannon introduction t he recent development of various methods of modulation such as pcm and ppm which exchange bandwidth for signaltonoise ratio has intensi. A student of vannevar bush at the massachusetts institute of technology mit, he was the first to propose the application of symbolic. What shannon did was to attempt to quantify the amount of information that bob transfers to alice. The book uses the contributions of claude shannon as a thread to tie everyones work together, but this is not a biography of claude shannon. A basis for such a theory is contained in the important papers of nyquist1 and hartley2 on this subject. In a famously brief book, shannon prefaced his account of information theory for continuous variables with these words. It was renamed the mathematical theory of communication in the 1949 book of the same name, a small but significant title.
Because his model is abstract, it applies in many situations, which contributes to its broad scope and power. The first quarter of the book is devoted to information theory, including a proof of shannons famous noisy coding theorem. The book by shannon and weaver 1949 is the classic. Shannon borrowed the concept of entropy from thermodynamics where it describes the amount of disorder of a system. Nov 16, 2017 information theory is the short name given to claude shannon s mathematical theory of communication, a 1948 paper that laid the groundwork for the information age. A thorough introduction to information theory, which strikes a good balance between intuitive and technical explanations. Journey into information theory computer science khan. While the jones 2 book does not provide a basket full of lemmas and deep insight for doing research on quantifying information, it is a very accessible, tothepoint and selfcontained survey of the main theorems of information theory, and therefore, imo, a good place to start. This is entirely consistent with shannons own approach. The remainder of the book is devoted to coding theory and is independent of the information theory portion of the book. From shannon to semantic information theory and general concepts of information. Developed by claude shannon and norbert wiener in the late 1940s, information theory, or statistical communication theory, deals with the theoretical underpinnings of a wide range of communication devices.
It assumes a basic knowledge of probability and modern algebra, but is otherwise self contained. In short, quantum shannon theory is the study of the ultimate capability of noisy physical systems, governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, to preserve information and correlations. The central themes of information theory include compression, storage, and communication. This is an introduction of shannons information theory. Communication communication involves explicitly the transmission of information from one point to another. The mathematical theory of information by shannon and weaver in pdf format 336kb, which is also freely available from the bell labs web site. The eventual goal is a general development of shannon s mathematical theory of communication, but much of the space is devoted to the tools and methods. A brief introduction to shannons information theory. Information theory is the science of operations on data. Formal theories of information and their philosophical analysis are being developed right now, and this is what makes a volume of this quality so welcome.
Sebastian sequoiahgrayson, minds and machines, vol. This groundbreaking paper laid the foundation for virtually all aspects of modernday communications. Shannons theory defines the ultimate fidelity limits that communication and. While the jones 2 book does not provide a basket full of lemmas and deep insight for doing research on quantifying information, it is a. The eventual goal is a general development of shannons mathematical theory of communication, but much of the space is devoted to the tools and methods required to prove the shannon. Walter isaacson, author of steve jobs, the innovators, and einstein. It was renamed the mathematical theory of communication in the 1949 book of the same name, a small but significant title change after realizing the generality of this work. Apr 30, 2016 shannons information theory t his equation was published in the 1949 book the mathematical theory of communication, cowritten by claude shannon and warren weaver.
The fact that information theory had been applied successfully in so many fields, even in psychology, economics, and the social sciences, was good news, but it also obscured the abstract meaning of these terms. Information theory a tutorial introduction james v stone start download of chapter 1 now also, below is part 2 of the book. A tutorial introduction, university of sheffield, england, 2014. An engaging account of how information theory is relevant to a wide range of natural and manmade systems, including evolution, physics, culture and genetics. Information theory information theory classical information theory. It starts with the basics of telling you what information is and is not.
In order to understand shannons entropy, we return to bob and alice and assume that they have a communication channel that is capable of transferring one pulse by seven in the evening. This is the website for ece 587, duke university, fall semester 2012. The present lovely little book appeared first in 1965, but is still very relevant. Yet, unfortunately, he is virtually unknown to the public. This book is an excellent introduction to the mathematics underlying the theory. Because of information theory and the results arising from coding theory we now know how to quantify information, how we can ef. Concepts in quantum shannon theory chapter 1 quantum. Which is the best introductory book for information theory.
It was founded by claude shannon toward the middle of the twentieth century and has since then evolved into a vigorous branch of mathematics fostering. Designed for upperlevel developed by claude shannon and norbert wiener in the late 1940s, information theory, or statistical communication theory, deals with the theoretical underpinnings of a wide range of communication devices. A tutorial introduction, by me jv stone, published february 2015. As the underpinning of his theory, shannon developed a very simple, abstract model of communication, as shown in the figure. One of the few accounts of shannons role in the development of information theory. The notion of entropy, which is fundamental to the whole topic of this book. Shannons discovery of the fundamental laws ofdatacompression andtransmission marks the birth ofinformation theory.
In information theory, entropy 1 for more advanced textbooks on information theory see cover and thomas 1991. Wilde arxiv, 2012 the aim of this book is to develop from the ground up many of the major developments in quantum shannon theory. There are two milestones that shape the main theses in this book. Information theory, a mathematical representation of the conditions and parameters affecting the transmission and processing of information. What are some standard bookspapers on information theory. Indeed the diversity and directions of their perspectives and interests shaped the direction of information theory. Information theory is the short name given to claude shannons mathematical theory of communication, a 1948 paper that laid the groundwork for the information age. They were created by yury polyanskiy and yihong wu, who used them to teach at mit 2012, 20 and 2016, uiuc 20, 2014. Its impact has been crucial to the success of the voyager missions to deep space, the invention of the compact disc, the feasibility of mobile phones, the development of the internet, t. A history, a theory, a flood and millions of other books are available for instant access.
It was the result of crucial contributions made by many distinct individuals, from a variety of backgrounds, who took his ideas and expanded upon them. The first is, naturally, claude shannons formulation of. A mathematical theory of communication is an article by mathematician claude e. Yet only now, and thanks to the emergence of the information age and digital communication, are the ideas of information theory being looked at again in a new light.
Indeed, the hard core of information theory is essentially a branch of mathematics, a strictly deductive system. The first component of the model, the message source, is simply the entity that. Cybernetics, systems theory, information theory and fuzzy. Of the pioneers who drove the information technology revolution, claude shannon may have been the most brilliant. Information theory is the mathematical treatment of the concepts, parameters and rules governing the transmission of messages through communication systems. You can use the internet without understanding any of claude shannons work. This book is an introduction to information and coding theory at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level. The notion of entropy, which is fundamental to the whole topic of this book, is introduced here. Developed by claude shannon and norbert wiener in the late forties, information theory, or statistical communication theory, deals with the theoretical underpinnings of a wide range of communication devices. They were created by yury polyanskiy and yihong wu, who used them to teach at mit 2012, 20 and 2016, uiuc 20, 2014 and yale 2017. In 1948 claude shannon published the paper that singlehandedly started the field of information theory, the mathematical theory of communication. A basis for such a theory is contained in the important papers of nyquist1 and. Information theory classical information theory britannica. Aug 26, 2011 overview of central topics in information theory and coding.
Electrostatic telegraphs case study the battery and electromagnetism. It assumes little prior knowledge and discusses both information with respect to discrete and continuous random variables. The theory is often applied to genetics to show how information held within a genome can actually increase, despite the apparent randomness of mutations. An informal introduction to the history of ideas and people associated with information theory. Information theory an overview sciencedirect topics. Fundamentals of information theory and coding design. Information theory studies the quantification, storage, and communication of information. Masters thesis, massachusetts institute of technology. The eventual goal is a general development of shannons mathematical theory of communication, but much.