Lecture-5: Mutual Information
Section-1: Mutual Information and its relation with entropy
1. Mutual Information: Mutual information is a measure of the amount of information that one random variable contains
about another.
Numerical Definition: The mutual information I(X;Y) between two random variables X and Y with the joint pdf P X,Y(x,y)
and marginal pdf’s PX(x) and PY(y) is defined as
PX ,Y x, y
I ( X ; Y ) pX ,Y ( x, y) log dxdy
PX x PY y
2. Relation between entropy and mutual information:
1) I ( X ;Y ) H ( X ) H ( X | Y )
2) I ( X ; Y ) H (Y ) H (Y | X )
3) I ( X ; Y ) H ( X ) H (Y ) H ( X , Y )
4) I ( X ; Y ) I (Y ; X )
5) I(X; X ) H(X )
6) I (Y ; Y ) H (Y )
3. Some important relationships:
H ( X ) p X ( x) log p X ( x ) dx
H ( X ) p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX x dxdy
H (Y ) pY ( y ) log pY ( y ) dy
H (Y ) p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY y dxdy
H ( X / Y ) p X /Y ( x y ) log pX /Y ( x y ) dx
H ( X | Y ) p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX |Y x | y dxdy
H (Y / X ) pY / X ( y | x) log pY / X ( y x)
dy
H (Y | X ) p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY | X y | x dxdy
PX ,Y x, y
PX |Y ( x | y )
PY y
PX ,Y x, y
PY | X ( y | x)
PX x
1
4. Proof of Relation between entropy and mutual information:
(a) Prove that I ( X ; Y ) H ( X ) H ( X | Y ) .
Proof:
We have
PX ,Y x, y
I ( X ; Y ) pX ,Y ( x, y) log dxdy
PX x PY y
PX ,Y x, y
PY y
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log dxdy
PX x
PX |Y x | y
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log dxdy
PX x
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX |Y x | y dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX x dxdy
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX x dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX |Y x | y dxdy
H(X ) H(X |Y)
Proved.
(b) Prove that I ( X ; Y ) H (Y ) H (Y | X ) .
Proof:
We have
PX ,Y x, y
I ( X ; Y ) pX ,Y ( x, y) log dxdy
PX x PY y
PX ,Y x, y
PX x
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log dxdy
PY y
PY | X y | x
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log dxdy
PY y
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY | X y | x dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY y dxdy
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY y dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY | X y | x dxdy
H (Y ) H (Y | X )
Proved.
2
(c) Prove that I ( X ; Y ) H ( X ) H (Y ) H ( X , Y ) .
Proof:
We have
PX ,Y x, y
I ( X ; Y ) pX ,Y ( x, y) log dxdy
PX x PY y
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX ,Y x, y dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX x dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY y dxdy
p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX x dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PY y dxdy p X ,Y ( x, y ) log PX ,Y x, y dxdy
H ( X ) H (Y ) H ( X , Y )
Proved.
(d) Prove that I ( X ; Y ) I (Y ; X ) .
Proof:
We have
I ( X ;Y ) H ( X ) H ( X | Y )
H (Y ) H (Y | X )
I (Y ; X )
Proved.
(e) Prove that I ( X ; X ) H ( X ) .
Proof:
We have
I(X ; X ) H(X ) H(X | X )
H(X ) 0
H (X )
Proved.
(f) Prove that I (Y ; Y ) H (Y ) .
Proof:
We have
I (Y ; Y ) H (Y ) H (Y | Y )
H (Y ) 0
H (Y )
Proved.
Reference:
1. Thomas M. Cover and Joy A. Thomas, “Elements of Information Theory”, 2nd Edition.