From: David Van Wie <dvw@hamachi.epr.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 95 14:56:30 PDT
To: "'cypherpunks'" <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: RE: More on "Entropy"
Message-ID: <30687699@hamachi>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



David Van Wie wrote:

>>The entropy E is defined by the sum across n states of -P_i log_2(P_i),

Timothy C. May wrote:

>Hah! Another physicist converted to the information-theoretic view of 
entropy!

Indeed.  I was able to track down the literature, and it is most 
interesting.  I am still a little bit skeptical of the "superset including 
thermodynamic entropy" school of thought, but I haven't finished reading all 
of the materials yet!  Clearly, the IT "version" of entropy is a well 
defined and useful thing....

>I should've pointed out in my reading list that several names stand out in
>this interpretation:

I'll read with that endoresement in mind.  Your thoughts on rigorous, 
_concise_, design criteria for sources of entropy would be appreciated 
(unless there is good quality work in the literature I haven't come to yet).

dvw