Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department of Mechanical Engineering 6.050J/2.110J – Information, Entropy and Computation – Spring 2017

Unit 8: Inference

Schedule

Lecture Handouts

Students who for any reason did not receive these items can pick them up in Room 38-344. Most of this material is also available on the 6.050J/2.110J Web site http://mtlsites.mit.edu/Courses/6.050.

• Unit 8 Resources (this page)
• 6.050J/2.110J Notes
  • Chapter 8: Inference
• Jaynes, E. T., “Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics,” Physical Review, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 620-630; May 15, 1957. PDF (2.2 MB)

Reading Assignment

• Notes, Chapter 8: Inference

Resources

Technical

The person most responsible for use of maximum entropy principles in various fields of science is Edwin T. Jaynes (July 5, 1922–April 30, 1998). The seminal papers are:

• Jaynes, E. T., “Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics,” Physical Review, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 620-630; May 15, 1957. PDF (2.2 MB). This paper started the modern use of the Principle of Maximum Entropy in physics
• Jaynes, E. T., “Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics. II,” Physical Review, vol. 108, no. 2, pp. 171-190; October 15, 1957. PDF (3.9 MB). Continuation of the previous reference

Historical

• Edwin T. Jaynes (1922–1998)
      Photograph
      Bibliography, list of Unpublished Works, and Book Reviews

Jaynes knew, of course, about Thomas Bayes and when on sabbatical in England sought out and photographed the Bayes tombstone.

Books

• The philosophy of assuming maximum uncertainty is discussed in Chapter 3 of M. Tribus, “Thermostatics and Thermodynamics,” D. Van Nostrand Co, Inc., Princeton, NJ; 1961
• Another good explanation, in terms of estimating probabilities of an unfair die is in E. T. Jaynes, “Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics,” pp. 181-218 in “Statistical Physics,” Brandeis Summer Institute 1962, W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New York, NY; 1963. PDF
• Personal history by Jaynes, Edwin T. Jaynes, “Where Do We Stand on Maximum Entropy?,” pp. 15-118, in “The Maximum Entropy Formalism,” Raphael D. Levine and Myron Tribus, editors, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA; 1979. PDF

Help Wanted

6.050J/2.110J students: be the first to suggest a resource, for example a useful Web site or a good book or article, to add to the list above. Send your suggestion by e-mail during Spring 2017 to 6.050-staff at mit.edu.