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entropy

ent·ropy

UK/ˈɛntɹəpi/ US/ˈɛntrʌpi/ uncommon

noun

1.

(communication theory) a numerical measure of the uncertainty of an outcome

  • “the signal contained thousands of bits of information”
Synonyms
2.

(thermodynamics) a thermodynamic quantity representing the amount of energy in a system that is no longer available for doing mechanical work

  • “entropy increases as matter and energy in the universe degrade to an ultimate state of inert uniformity”
Synonyms

Origin

First attested in 1867, as the translation of German Entropie, coined in 1865 by Rudolph Clausius in analogy to Energie (“energy”), replacing the root of Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon, “work”) by Ancient Greek τροπή (tropḗ, “transformation”)).

Phrases

  • algorithmic entropy
  • conditional entropy
  • high-entropy alloy
  • information entropy
  • joint entropy
  • Rényi entropy
  • Shannon entropy
  • Tsallis entropy

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.