A First Course in Information Theory

A First Course in Information Theory is an up-to-date introduction to information theory. In addition to the classical topics discussed, it provides the first comprehensive treatment of the theory of I-Measure, network coding theory, Shannon and non-Shannon type information inequalities, and a relation between entropy and group theory. Incepted halfway through the 20th century, information theory is a classical yet modern field which is more vibrant than ever before. In particular, there have been a number of major research results on the foundation of the theory during the 1990s. These results enable information theory to be understood and explored in a way which has not been possible before, and they open new dimensions in the theory. In short, the depth of information theory is far beyond what we used to know. This book is an integration of the most fundamental topics in information theory plus a few selected advanced topics. Results given include the theory of I-Me asure, Shannon-type and non-Shannon-type information inequalities, and network coding theory. Some important implications of information theory in probability theory and group theory are also explained in this book. ITIP, the software package that comes with the book, is the only software package of its kind which can prove all Shannon-type information inequalities.