title: What is information?†.
abstract: Information is a precise concept that can be defined mathematically, but its relationship to what we call 'knowledge' is not always made clear. Furthermore, the concepts 'entropy' and 'information', while deeply related, are distinct and must be used with care, something that is not always achieved in the literature. In this elementary introduction, the concepts of entropy and information are laid out one by one, explained intuitively, but defined rigorously. I argue that a proper understanding of information in terms of prediction is key to a number of disciplines beyond engineering, such as physics and biology.
authors: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA adami@msu.edu.
authors: Christoph
authors: 0000-0002-2915-9504
authors: C
authors: Adami
mesh_terms: D019277:Entropy; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: Bayesian inference; entropy; information