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Mathematical Theory of Claude Shannon [pdf] (utexas.edu)
24 points by TriinT on Aug 10, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments



What?! There's no math!

http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pd...

That's more like it, no?


Well, the subtitle of the submitted article is "a study of the style and context of his work up to the genesis of information theory". Shannon did a lot of amazing work before the seminal 1948 paper. As an example, here are his M.Sc. and Ph.D. thesis:

A symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11173

An algebra for theoretical genetics: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11174

Shannon was quite a unique thinker. I would dare to say that very few people had such tremendous impact on the world via abstract thinking. He single-handedly enabled the digital revolution. And though a lot is known about his contributions, less is known about his personality, interests and style. Thus, I believe the submitted article is indeed quite an interesting read, despite the fact that it's not about the mathematical theory of communication.


Oh, I agree with you wholeheartedly (except for the single-handedly part; many people had a hand in it).

But the title of your post says "Mathematical Theory of Claude Shannon." And there's no math. Even though it is relevant and interesting, it's mis-labelled.


English not being my first language I may be prone to if not false then alternative interpretations, but I can't help finding the title with its connotations pretty elegant.


I think no. Subtitle: A study of the style and context of his work




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