Information and Coding Theory (Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series) - Softcover

Jones, Gareth A.; Jones, J.Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852336226 ISBN 13: 9781852336226

Publisher: Springer, 2000

Synopsis

As this Preface is being written, the twentieth century is coming to an end. Historians may perhaps come to refer to it as the century of information, just as its predecessor is associated with the process of industrialisation. Successive technological developments such as the telephone, radio, television, computers and the Internet have had profound effects on the way we live. We can see pic­ tures of the surface of Mars or the early shape of the Universe. The contents of a whole shelf-load of library books can be compressed onto an almost weight­ less piece of plastic. Billions of people can watch the same football match, or can keep in instant touch with friends around the world without leaving home. In short, massive amounts of information can now be stored, transmitted and processed, with surprising speed, accuracy and economy. Of course, these developments do not happen without some theoretical ba­ sis, and as is so often the case, much of this is provided by mathematics. Many of the first mathematical advances in this area were made in the mid-twentieth century by engineers, often relying on intuition and experience rather than a deep theoretical knowledge to lead them to their discoveries. Soon the math­ ematicians, delighted to see new applications for their subject, joined in and developed the engineers' practical examples into wide-ranging theories, com­ plete with definitions, theorems and proofs.

About this title

Synopsis

This book provides an elementary introduction to Information Theory and Coding Theory - two related aspects of the problem of how to transmit information efficiently and accurately. The first part of the book focuses on Information Theory, covering uniquely decodable and instantaneous codes, Huffman coding, entropy, information channels, and Shannon's Fundamental Theorem. In the second part, on Coding Theory, linear algebra is used to construct examples of such codes, such as the Hamming, Hadamard, Golay and Reed-Muller codes. The book emphasises carefully explained proofs and worked examples; exercises (with solutions) are integrated into the text as part of the learning process. Only some basic probability theory and linear algebra, together with a little calculus (as covered in most first-year university syllabuses), is assumed, making it suitable for second- and third-year undergraduates in mathematics, electronics and computer science.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1852336226
• ISBN 13: 9781852336226
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 223