{{Short description|Concept in information processing}} The '''data processing inequality''' is an information theoretic concept that states that the information content of a signal cannot be increased via a local physical operation. This can be expressed concisely as 'post-processing cannot increase information'.<ref name= BeaudryArxiv>{{citation |journal=Quantum Information & Computation |volume=12 |issue=5–6 |pages=432–441 |last1=Beaudry |first1=Normand |title=An intuitive proof of the data processing inequality |date=2012 |doi=10.26421/QIC12.5-6-4 |arxiv=1107.0740|bibcode=2011arXiv1107.0740B |s2cid=9531510 }}</ref>
==Statement== Let three random variables form the Markov chain <math>X \rightarrow Y \rightarrow Z</math>, implying that the conditional distribution of <math>Z</math> depends only on <math>Y</math> and is conditionally independent of <math>X</math>. Specifically, we have such a Markov chain if the joint probability mass function can be written as :<math>p(x,y,z) = p(x)p(y|x)p(z|y)=p(y)p(x|y)p(z|y)</math>
In this setting, no processing of <math>Y</math>, deterministic or random, can increase the information that <math>Y</math> contains about <math>X</math>. Using the mutual information, this can be written as : :<math> I(X;Y) \geqslant I(X;Z),</math>
with the equality <math>I(X;Y) = I(X;Z) </math> if and only if <math> I(X;Y\mid Z)=0 </math>. That is, <math>Z</math> and <math>Y</math> contain the same information about <math>X</math>, and <math>X \rightarrow Z \rightarrow Y</math> also forms a Markov chain.<ref>{{cite book| title=Elements of information theory | last1=Cover | last2=Thomas | date=2012 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref>
==Proof== One can apply the chain rule for mutual information to obtain two different decompositions of <math>I(X;Y,Z)</math>:
:<math> I(X;Z) + I(X;Y\mid Z) = I(X;Y,Z) = I(X;Y) + I(X;Z\mid Y) </math>
By the relationship <math>X \rightarrow Y \rightarrow Z</math>, we know that <math>X</math> and <math>Z</math> are conditionally independent, given <math>Y</math>, which means the conditional mutual information, <math>I(X;Z\mid Y)=0</math>. The data processing inequality then follows from the non-negativity of <math>I(X;Y\mid Z)\ge0</math>.
==See also== * Garbage in, garbage out
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Mutual_information
Category:Data processing
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