Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Interaction information
open-in-new
<p>In <a href="/facts/Probability_theory/mFBn51rE">probability theory</a> and <a href="/facts/Information_theory/qNLH3U5P">information theory</a>, the interaction information is a generalization of the <a href="/facts/Mutual_information/HIUvsjvV">mutual information</a> for more than two <a href="/facts/Variable_(mathematics)/VbQlrvKz">variables</a>. </p><p>There are many names for interaction information, including <i>amount of information</i>, <i>information correlation</i>, <i>co-information</i>, and simply <i>mutual information</i>. Interaction information expresses the amount of information (redundancy or synergy) bound up in a set of variables, <i>beyond</i> that which is present in any subset of those variables. Unlike the mutual information, the interaction information can be either positive or negative. These functions, their negativity and minima have a direct interpretation in <a href="/facts/Algebraic_topology/2wA8yrjT">algebraic topology</a>. </p>