Abstract
In much of maximum-entropy inference (MAXENT) and its ancestor, Gibbsian thermodynamics, we are concerned with a single solution, that is, imposing one set of constraints and examining the resulting distribution and predictions. However, Gibbs (1875) had already shown, in thermodynamics, that new and important facts appear when we consider the relationship between two different solutions. In this paper we show that the same is true for the MAXENT generalization. Indeed, much of conventional physics, and for that matter, conventional wisdom, is contained in a general theorem relating two different MAXENT predictions, before and after adding a new constraint.
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© 1985 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Jaynes, E.T. (1985). Generalized Scattering. In: Smith, C.R., Grandy, W.T. (eds) Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Inverse Problems. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2221-6_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2221-6_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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