right end of focus no left directional palette HAPPY FUN COMMUNICATION LAND

HFCL FOCUS Shannon's Formula for the Power of a Code

What the Symbols Mean

A code is a set of symbols and a set of rules that describe how the symbols can be combined to form messages.

Claude Shannon famous formula provides a way to compare one code against the other to find out which can send the most messages with the smallest number of symbols. This is useful because it helps engineers design efficient communications systems, but the discovery of the code is also important because it led to many other discoveries in computer science and communications technologies.

This presentation shows what each of the mathematical symbols in Shannon's formula represents.

HFCL FOCUS Shannon's Formula for the Power of a Code



This animated presentation runs in Netscape 4 or Explorer 4 or similar web browsers. The MACROMEDIA SHOCKWAVE PLUG-IN must be present. To get the plug-in go to the MACROMEDIA download web site and choose the appropriate Shockwave plug-in for your computer and browser.