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Article: Information entropy of non-probabilistic processes.
- Article from:
- Geographical Analysis
- Article date:
- July 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Ohio State University Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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We derive an expression for the entropy of non-probabilistic distributions encountered in spatial and mathematical mappings. The entropy of non-probabilistic distributions can be formulated using probabilistic notions of the hypothetical random redistribution of finite information. We show that the discrete approximation to the information content of spatial maps can be based on the discrete hypergeometric distribution. The resultant "associative" entropy is distinct from the Shannon entropy for probability distributions and addresses several shortcomings of the current entropy paradigm as applied to spatial analysis. The associative entropy statistic is distributed ...