PHYS169
INFO THEORY, INFERENCE & NTWK
- Department
- Physics
- Terms offered
- 3
- Data refreshed
- Jun 30, 2026
Description
Section information text: This course will explore the basic concepts of Information theory -- a topic that lies at the heart of many exciting areas of contemporary science and engineering -- and its applications to statistical inference and network theory. Topics covered in the course include entropy as a measure of information, mutual information, information transmission and communication through noiseless or noisy channels, maximum likelihood methods for data analysis, and neural network models. The basic concepts developed will be applied to examples from a wide range of academic fields such as data compression and storage, biophysics, signal processing, neuroscience, machine learning, and finance, where information theory can be related to the theory of optimal investment in the stock market. Finally we will discuss how methods from information theory can be used to study and quantify interaction networks, a subject that lies at the heart of the modern science of complex systems.
Syllabi
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Offering history & forecast 2012–2020
| Year | Fall | Spring | Summer | Intersession |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2030 | 2030 Fall: 11% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 1 of 9 fall terms since 2018. | 2030 Spring: 7% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 9 spring terms since 2018. | 2030 Summer: 7% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 9 summer terms since 2018. | 2030 Intersession: 8% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 6 intersession terms since 2020. |
| 2029 | 2029 Fall: 10% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 1 of 10 fall terms since 2017. | 2029 Spring: 6% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 10 spring terms since 2017. | 2029 Summer: 6% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 10 summer terms since 2017. | 2029 Intersession: 7% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 7 intersession terms since 2017. |
| 2028 | 2028 Fall: 10% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 1 of 11 fall terms since 2016. | 2028 Spring: 7% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 1 of 11 spring terms since 2016. | 2028 Summer: 5% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 11 summer terms since 2016. | 2028 Intersession: 7% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 7 intersession terms since 2017. |
| 2027 | 2027 Fall: 9% chance, high confidence. Offered in 1 of 12 fall terms since 2015. | 2027 Spring: 7% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 1 of 11 spring terms since 2016. | 2027 Summer: 5% chance, high confidence. Offered in 0 of 12 summer terms since 2015. | 2027 Intersession: 6% chance, medium confidence. Offered in 0 of 7 intersession terms since 2017. |
| 2020 | 1 section | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 2019 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | No data for this term |
| 2018 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | No data for this term |
| 2017 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 2016 | Not offered | 1 section | Not offered | No data for this term |
| 2015 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | No data for this term |
| 2014 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | No data for this term |
| 2013 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | No data for this term |
| 2012 | 1 section | Not offered | Not offered | No data for this term |
Future estimates combine recent offering frequency with detected multi-year cycles. Hover a cell for confidence and evidence; low-confidence estimates are marked with ~.
Meeting times
Most recent firstNo meeting times recorded for this course.
| Term | Professor | Type | Credits | Enrollment | CRN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2020 | Ranjan Mukhopadhyay | Lecture | 1 | 11 of 12 enrolled | 27867 |
| Spring 2016 | Ranjan Mukhopadhyay | Lecture | 1 | 10 of 15 enrolled | 34977 |
| Fall 2012 | Ranjan Mukhopadhyay | Lecture | 1 | 13 of 20 enrolled | 22233 |