Cambridge, United Kingdom

Mathematics of Information

Language: English Studies in English
Subject area: mathematics and statistics
University website: www.cam.ac.uk
Information
Information is any entity or form that provides the answer to a question of some kind or resolves uncertainty. It is thus related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, and knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts. As it regards data, the information's existence is not necessarily coupled to an observer (it exists beyond an event horizon, for example), while in the case of knowledge, the information requires a cognitive observer.
Mathematics
Mathematics (from Greek μάθημα máthēma, "knowledge, study, learning") is the study of such topics as quantity, structure, space, and change. It has no generally accepted definition.
Mathematics
“It’s magic,” the chief cook concluded, in awe.
“No, not magic,” the ship’s doctor replied. “It’s much more. It’s mathematics.”
David Brin, Glory Season (1993), chapter 24
Information
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
Thomas Edison, As quoted in Golden Book (April 1931), according to Stevenson's Book of Quotations (Cassell 3rd edition 1938) by Burton Egbert Stevenson.
Mathematics
Mathematics is a versatile art; it can be applied to widely different purposes. Math has no morality; it does not care what it counts or what it proves.
Brian Stableford, Ashes and Tombstones, in Peter Crowther (ed.) Moon Shots (1999), reprinted in David G. Hartwell (ed.) Year's Best SF 5 (2000), p. 412
Sediments and landforms left behind by retreating glaciers can provide valuable information on the processes that shaped them. Reconstructing the behaviour of glaciers and ice sheets could provide important indicators of environmental change.
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