shannon_entropy {msu}

Estimation of Shannon entropy for a categorical variable.

Description

The Shannon entropy estimates the average minimum number of bits needed to encode a string of symbols, based on the frequency of the symbols (see http://www.bearcave.com/misl/misl_tech/wavelets/compression/shannon.html).

Usage

shannon_entropy(x)

H(x)

Arguments

x

A factor as the represented categorical variable.

Value

Shannon entropy estimation of the categorical variable.

Examples

shannon_entropy(factor(c(1,0)))
shannon_entropy(factor(c('a','b','c')))
## Not run: 
shannon_entropy(1)
shannon_entropy(c('a','b','c'))

## End(Not run)