Dyadic distribution

A dyadic (or 2-adic) distribution is a specific type of discrete probability distribution that is of some theoretical importance in data compression.

Definition

A dyadic distribution is a probability distribution whose probability mass function is

$f(i)=2^{-x_i}$

where $x_i$ is some whole number.

It is possible to find a binary code defined on this distribution, which has an average code length that is equal to the entropy.

References

• Cover, T.M., Joy A. Thomas, J.A. (2006) Elements of information theory, Wiley. Template:ISBN

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