thermodynamic/information entropy comparisons

Bill Hamilton (hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com)
Thu, 26 Feb 1998 16:18:10 -0500

I got the papers by Jaynes that Dave Bowman cited a while ago and started
reading them. However (lazy individual that I am) I also began to wonder
if there was a treatment that attacked the problem in a more leisurely
fashion and searched the GMR library database for references to entropy. I
came up with a book called

"Entropy Optimization Principles with Applications" by J. N. Kapur and H.
K. Kesavan, published by Academic Press in 1992.

Although its primary subject is finding the maximum entropy distribution
which satisfies some constraints (the data you have) (a popular estimation
approach because it avoids implicitly using information you don't have) it
also shows how the method leads to Boltzman's distribution in statistical
mechanics, as well as explaining Jaynes'reasoning a bit more lucidly than
Jaynes does. Looks useful to me. Now all I have to do is find time to
finish it.

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Bill Hamilton
Staff Research Engineer
Chassis and Vehicle Systems
GM R&D Center
Warren, MI