An Educational Methodology to Interpret the Entropy of a Source Based on the Analogy between such an Entropy and the Mechanical Energy

作者：Bonache Jorge^*; Cousido Carmen; Hernandez Wilmar

来源：International Journal of Engineering Education, 2010, 26(3): 602-611.

• entropy
• information theory
• law of conservation of energy
• computer simulation

This paper describes a seminar within the work unit 'Introduction to the Entropy in Communications' in the Statistics and Stochastic Processes course. During the seminar the students study the entropy of a discrete source, its interpretation as potential information, and the parallelism with the law of conservation of energy. A detailed analysis of the singularity that represents the case of a uniform source distribution is carried out and analogies made with the principle of conservation of mechanical energy. In addition, the intuitive characteristics of the seminar are highlighted, as well as its gradually increasing development, carrying out successive generalizations. The methodologies used in the seminar allow the students to discover for themselves an interdisciplinary model of learning as well as showing them how to use computer simulation as a learning strategy in order to achieve the learning objectives.

• 出版日期2010