Shannon–Fano coding: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Data compression algorithms}}

In the field of [[data compression]], '''Shannon–Fano coding''', named after [[Claude Shannon]] and [[Robert Fano]], is aone name given toof two different but related techniques for constructing a [[prefix code]] based on a set of symbols and their probabilities (estimated or measured).

* '''Shannon's method''' chooses a prefix code where a source symbol <math>i</math> is given the codeword length <math>l_i = \lceil - \log_2 p_i\rceil</math>. One common way of choosing the codewords uses the binary expansion of the cumulative probabilities. This method was proposed in Shannon's "[[A Mathematical Theory of Communication]]" (1948), his article introducing the field of [[information theory]].