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Readings

• Notes, Chapter 7: Processes (PDF - 1.4 MB)
• Wang, M. Z. A summary in concise mathematics (mostly algebra) of many topics in information theory, coding, communications. Hong Kong, October 1996. There is a section on Discrete Memoryless Channels.
• Gallager, Robert G. "Claude E. Shannon: A Retrospective on His Life, Work, and Impact." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 47 (November 2001): 2681-2695.

Assignments

• Problem Set 6 (PDF)
• Problem Set 6 Solutions (PDF)

Resources

Technical

• Shannon, Claude E. "A Mathematical Theory of Communication." Bell System Technical Journal 27 (July and October 1948): 379-423 (Part I), 623-656 (Part II). These seminal papers are available in several forms (see bibliographic notes)
  • PDF version of original papers, with corrections but without Shannon's 1949 modifications. (PDF)^#
  • Shannon, Claude E., and Warren Weaver. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780252725463. (Incorporating a number of modifications and corrections by Shannon.)
  • Shannon, Claude E. "A Mathematical Theory of Communication." 50th Anniversary Edition, printed for the 1998 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory. New York, NY: IEEE Press, August 16-21, 1998. ISBN: 9780780350007. (Based on 1949 book, with corrections.)
  • Reprinted in Key Papers in the Development of Information Theory. Edited by D. Slepian. New York, NY: IEEE Press, 1974.
  • Reprinted in Claude Elwood Shannon: Collected Papers. Edited by N. J. A. Sloane, and A. D. Wyner. New York, NY: IEEE Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780780304345.
  Because he treated a general case, Shannon was able to distinguish loss and noise, in the way done in 6.050J/2.110J. Many others treat only channels with similar inputs and outputs in which case often L = N so it may not be obvious why they are different concepts.

Historical

• Claude E. Shannon (1916 - 2001); obituary, Tech Talk, MIT, Feb 28, 2001.
• Wyner, Aaron D. The Significance of Shannon's Work.
• Gallager, Robert G. "Claude E. Shannon: A Retrospective on His Life, Work, and Impact." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 47 (November 2001): 2681-2695.
• The process model is also known as Markov Processes or Markov Chains after Andrei A. Markov (1856 - 1922).

General Technical Books

There are many excellent texts on communications, most of which assume a familiarity with mathematics beyond introductory calculus. Some have treatments of the discrete memoryless channel, but not with the same emphasis given here. Here are a few:

• Gallager, Robert G. Information Theory and Reliable Communications. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1968. ISBN: 9780471290483.
  One of the early textbooks, designed for first-year graduate students.
• Hambley, Allan R. An Introduction to Communication Systems. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman, 1989. ISBN: 9780716781844.
• Cover, Thomas M., and Joy A. Thomas. Elements of Information Theory. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006. ISBN: 9780471241959.
  Aimed at university seniors and first-year graduate students. One of several excellent books of that era.
• Haykin, Simon. Communication Systems. 4th ed. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000. ISBN: 9780471178699.

UNITS: Bits and Codes | Compression | Noise and Errors | Probability | Communications | Processes | Inference | Maximum Entropy | Physical Systems | Energy | Temperature | Quantum Information