SciPost Submission Page
A brief tutorial on information theory
by Tarek Tohme, William Bialek
Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Tarek Tohme |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.16556v2 (pdf) |
| Date submitted: | 2024-05-29 13:25 |
| Submitted by: | Tohme, Tarek |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics Lecture Notes |
| for consideration in Collection: |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approach: | Theoretical |
Abstract
At the 2023 Les Houches Summer School on Theoretical Biological Physics, several students asked for some background on information theory, and so we added a tutorial to the scheduled lectures. This is largely a transcript of that tutorial, lightly edited. It covers basic definitions and context rather than detailed calculations. We hope to have maintained the informality of the presentation, including exchanges with the students, while still being useful.
Current status:
Reports on this Submission
Report
This is a very pedagogical tutorial on information theory, specifically entropy and mutual information. It is very pleasant to read. I only have some very minor suggestions.
Requested changes
Minor suggestions:
p. 7 I suggest to remove (or complete) the unfinished sentence “What on earth does the number of possible states...”.
p. 8 “how does it take the same amount of space to store it?”: I have the impression that the question “how does it not take the same amount of space to store it?” would slightly better match the context.
p.9 gaussian -> Gaussian
p. 10 “random flight polymer”: This is minor, but I am rather used to the name “ideal chain” or “random walk polymer”.
p. 13 “said that y = x + ξ…”: here it might be helpful to say “(see Eq. 11)”.
Recommendation
Publish (surpasses expectations and criteria for this Journal; among top 10%)
Strengths
1. Short introduction to information theory for physicists, ideal for students.
2. Very engaging format, with transcribed questions from the students, which are very smart questions that are not often addressed in textbooks. In that sense it's unique material that can be used by students and instructors alike.
Weaknesses
Doesn't go past mutual information for lack of time.
Report
I recommend publication.
Recommendation
Publish (surpasses expectations and criteria for this Journal; among top 10%)