Talk:Information theory

This article makes the classic mistake of confusing bits with binary digits. Clarification can be found here (see final 3 paragraphs): https://plus.maths.org/content/information-bits-and-20-questions Jvstone (talk) 10:21, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

That article's concluding paragraph admits that "Sadly, in modern usage, the terms bit and binary digit have become synonymous." That is simply a fact, not necessarily a mistake – bit is a term formed as a contraction of "binary digit". While some people may try to draw a distinction between what those two terms mean, most do not – even in academic literature (as I suspect you know, since it seems you wrote that). Context or additional explanation is needed (or alternative terminology, such as using the term binary symbol instead of binary digit to draw the distinction, or talking about bits of data versus bits of entropy or bits of information). Many words have multiple meanings and depend on context for their exact interpretation. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 02:16, 10 April 2023 (UTC)

The article's first sentence is ambiguous, if not misleading. 'Information theory is the mathematical study of the quantification, storage, and communication of information' It then links to the Wikipedia article for information in general. This opening sentence is true only if it refers to information in the technical sense used by information theory, rather than information more generally. Overall I think the first sentence should be re-written, as it reads now it's hardly more than 'information theory is theory about information'. Ethan (talk) 23:13, 5 November 2025 (UTC)

Additionally, the source this sentence is citing makes no such claim. Information theory is not defined on the page cited (page 14 of elements of information theory volume 2). This page is merely a preface to the second addition anyhow. Chapter 1 (beginning on page 21) is where Information Theory is actually described. Ethan (talk) 23:09, 6 December 2025 (UTC)