Abstract
Entropy is a measure of disorder; a low-entropy system (e.g. a crystal at low temperature, or a library with all its books on the shelves, properly ordered) is an organised system, while a high-entropy system (e.g. a crystal at high temperature, or a library with many books on the reading tables) is a somewhat disorganised system. The negative of entropy is “information” not in the general sense (e.g., the contents of a book), but in the ‘Information Theory’ sense, where the “information” content of an event (e.g. the removal of a book from the library shelves, or the outcome of the toss of a coin) is related to the probability of the event occurring. The more unlikely the event, the higher the “information” content when it occurs. Wyllie (1970).
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References
Angrist, S.W. and Hepler, L.G. (1973). Order and Chaos, Pelican Books, pp. 24, 130, 167, 197–7.
Foster, J. (1992). A New Thermodynamical Paradigm for Economic Science: Marshall Revisited and Prigogine Reassessed,these conference proceedings.
Wyllie, G.A.P. (1970). Elementary Statistical Mechanics, London, Hutchinson University Library, ch. 1.
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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Troup, G.J. (1994). A Thermodynamic Analysis of Library Operation. In: Burley, P., Foster, J. (eds) Economics and Thermodynamics. Recent Economic Thought Series, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8269-8_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8269-8_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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