Polynomial Functors and Shannon Entropy

DOI10.4204/EPTCS.380.19arXiv2201.12878OpenAlexW4385342820MaRDI QIDQ6150165FDOQ6150165

Authors: David I. Spivak 

Publication date: 5 March 2024

Published in: Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Past work shows that one can associate a notion of Shannon entropy to a Dirichlet polynomial, regarded as an empirical distribution. Indeed, entropy can be extracted from any $dinmathsfDir$ by a two-step process, where the first step is a rig homomorphism out of $mathsfDir$, the emph{set} of Dirichlet polynomials, with rig structure given by standard addition and multiplication. In this short note, we show that this rig homomorphism can be upgraded to a rig emph{functor}, when we replace the set of Dirichlet polynomials by the emph{category} of ordinary (Cartesian) polynomials. In the Cartesian case, the process has three steps. The first step is a rig functor $mathbf{Poly}^{mathbfCart}omathbfPoly$ sending a polynomial $p$ to $dotpmathcaly$, where $dotp$ is the derivative of $p$. The second is a rig functor $mathbfPolyomathbfSetimesmathbf{Set}^{extop}$, sending a polynomial $q$ to the pair $(q(1),Gamma(q))$, where $Gamma(q)=mathbfPoly(q,mathcaly)$ can be interpreted as the global sections of $q$ viewed as a bundle, and $q(1)$ as its base. To make this precise we define what appears to be a new distributive monoidal structure on $mathbfSetimesmathbf{Set}^{extop}$, which can be understood geometrically in terms of rectangles. The last step, as for Dirichlet polynomials, is simply to extract the entropy as a real number from a pair of sets $(A,B)$; it is given by $logA-logsqrt[A]B$ and can be thought of as the log aspect ratio of the rectangle.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.12878

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Computer science (68-XX)

Cites Work

• A Mathematical Theory of Communication
• A characterization of entropy in terms of information loss
• Polynomial functors and polynomial monads
• Entropy and Diversity
• Title not available (Why is that?)

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