A First Course in Information Theory (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) [Hardcover]

Raymond W. Yeung (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0306467917 | ISBN-13: 978-0306467912 | Publication Date: April 30, 2002

This book provides 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. ITIP, a software package for proving information inequalities, is also included. With a large number of examples, illustrations, and original problems, this book is excellent as a textbook or reference book for a senior or graduate level course on the subject, as well as a reference for researchers in related fields.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 434 pages
• Publisher: Springer (April 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306467917
• ISBN-13: 978-0306467912
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,307,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, unique, modern - but also advanced, May 7, 2007

By 

pi (australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A First Course in Information Theory (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) (Hardcover)

This is certainly one of the best textbooks on information theory. I would put it in line with the ones by Gallager and Cover/Thomas. It gives a fresh and modern perspective on information theory and prepares the reader very well for the new hot topics. It is well written, provides lots of examples, all good and interesting. The topics covered in this book span from the very basics to almost state of the art. Thus - and this is the only point I can criticize - some of the material may not be suited for a first course in information theory, rather than for a second course. To sum up, I can really recommend this book to anyone studying this topic.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An advanced book on Information Theory, March 26, 2007

By 

Rui Costa (Porto, Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A First Course in Information Theory (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) (Hardcover)

This book provides the most important results on Information Theory, and it is up to date. It provides to the reader the necessary background and the important notions about this subject. It is well organized, although in some parts it can be a bit hard to understand some of the proofs.
I recommend this book, specially for advanced readers.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From insight to cutting edge research in information theory!, January 30, 2005

By 

Patrick Lam (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A First Course in Information Theory (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) (Hardcover)

This book really motivates me to learn information theory and to discover the insight given by the subject. I had no or very little background on information theory before I took Professor Yeung's course. Now I am deeply interested in the subject (Of course, you do not need to take the course in order to fall in love with the book). The book may not be a no brainer, but its clear explanations of the concepts and mind-opening analytical examples easily led me not only to understand the subject very well, but also to realize the close relationship between math and information. That's the greatest part of the book. Later chapters in the book introduce many cutting edge research results in the subject which gives me a lot of ideas for research directions. If you are serious about learning information theory, this is the book you will love. Cover and Thomas book "Elements of Information Theory" is also good, but it is a bit less insightful (i.e., it is really a "text-book" :)), and the explanations of concepts are a bit on the shallow side. I suggest to use it as a reference to Yeung's book.