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A note on the theory of communication through social channels

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Abstract

In a previous paper (Bull. Math. Biophysics,12, 215, 1950) a theory of transmission of information through a chain of individuals was developed. It was assumed that each individual can exhibit only two mutually exclusive reactions, which serve as signals, thus transmitting to his neighbor one bit of information per signal. In the present paper the theory is generalized to the case of any numberm of mutually exclusive reactions, giving thus log2 m bits per signal. The general character of the process of transmission remains very much the same as before; the mathematical expression becoming, however, more complicated.

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Literature

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Rashevsky, N. A note on the theory of communication through social channels. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 13, 139–146 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478222

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478222

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