The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Theory of Program Size Formally Identical to Information Theory
Open accessAbstract
A new definition of program-size complexity is made.H(A,B/C,D) is defined to be the size in bits of the shortest self-delimiting program for calculating strings A and B if one is given a minimal-size self-delimiting program for calculating strings C and D. This differs from previous definitions: (1) programs are required to be self-delimiting, i.e. no program is a prefix of another, and (2) instead of being given C and D directly, one is given a program for calculating them that is minimal in size.Unlike previous definitions, this one has precisely the formal properties of the entropy concept of information theory.For example, H(A,B) = H(A) + H(B/A) -~ 0(1).Also, if a program of length k is assigned measure 2 -k, then H(A) = -log2 (the probability that the standard universal computer will calculate A) -{-0(1).
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
A formal theory of inductive inference. Part II
Solomonoff, R. J. (1964) · Information and Control · doi:10.1016/s0019-9958(64)90131-7 · Cited by 1,758
A formal theory of inductive inference. Part I
Solomonoff, R. J. (1964) · Information and Control · doi:10.1016/s0019-9958(64)90223-2 · Cited by 1,192
On the Length of Programs for Computing Finite Binary Sequences
Chaitin, G. J. (1966) · Journal of the ACM · doi:10.1145/321356.321363 · Cited by 913
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 29
- KOLMOGOROV , A.N . Three approaches to the quantitative definition of information . Problems of Inform. Transmission 1 , 1 (Jam- March 1965 ), 1-7. KOLMOGOROV, A.N. Three approaches to the quantitative definition of information. Problems of Inform. Transmission 1, 1 (Jam-March 1965), 1-7.
- 10.1145/321495.321506 · DOI · Paper page
- ~OLMOGOROV , A.N. On the logical foundations of information theory and probability theory. Problems of Inform. Transmission 5, 3 (July-Sept . 1969 ), 1-4. ~OLMOGOROV, A.N. On the logical foundations of information theory and probability theory. Problems of Inform. Transmission 5, 3 (July-Sept. 1969), 1-4.
- LOVELAND , D.W . A variant of the Kolmogorov concept of complexity . Inform. and Contr. 15 ( 1969 ), 510 - 526 . LOVELAND, D.W. A variant of the Kolmogorov concept of complexity. Inform. and Contr. 15 (1969), 510-526. · doi:10.1016/s0019-9958(69)90538-5
- SCHNORR , C.P . Process complexity and effective random tests . J. Comput. and Syst. Scis. 7 ( 1973 ), 376 - 388 . SCHNORR, C.P. Process complexity and effective random tests. J. Comput. and Syst. Scis. 7 (1973), 376-388. · DOI · Paper page
- CHAITIN , G.J. On the difficulty of computations. 1EEE Trans. IT-16 ( 1970 ), 5-9. CHAITIN, G.J. On the difficulty of computations. 1EEE Trans. IT-16 (1970), 5-9.
- FEINSTEIN , A. Foundations of Information Theory . McGraw-Hill , New York , 1958 . FEINSTEIN, A. Foundations of Information Theory. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1958.
- FANO , R. M. Transmission of Information . Wiley , New Nork , 1961 . FANO, R. M. Transmission of Information. Wiley, New Nork, 1961.
- ABRAMSON , N. Information Theory and Coding . McGraw-Hill , New York , 1963 . ABRAMSON, N. Information Theory and Coding. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1963.
- AsH, R. Information Theory . Wiley-Interscience , New York , 1965 . AsH, R. Information Theory. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1965.
- 10.1145/321574.321578 · DOI
- ZVONKIN , A. K. , AN n LE VlN , L. A. The complexity of finite objects and the development of the concepts of information and randomness by means of the theory of algorithms. Russ. Math. Survs. 25, 6 (Nov.-Dec . 1970 ), 83-124. ZVONKIN, A. K., ANn LEVlN, L.A. The complexity of finite objects and the development of the concepts of information and randomness by means of the theory of algorithms. Russ. Math. Survs. 25, 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1970), 83-124.
- COVER , T.M. Universal gambling schemes and the complexity measures of Kolmogorov and Chaitin. Rep. No. 12, Statistics Dep., Stanford U., Stanford , Calif. , 1974 . Submitted to Ann. Statist. COVER, T.M. Universal gambling schemes and the complexity measures of Kolmogorov and Chaitin. Rep. No. 12, Statistics Dep., Stanford U., Stanford, Calif., 1974. Submitted to Ann. Statist.
- WEISS , B . The isomorphism problem in ergodic theory . Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 78 ( 1972 ), 668 - 684 . WEISS, B. The isomorphism problem in ergodic theory. Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 78 (1972), 668-684. · doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1972-12979-3
- R~NYI , A. Foundations of Probability . Holden-Day , San Francisco , 1970 . R~NYI, A. Foundations of Probability. Holden-Day, San Francisco, 1970.
- FINE , T . L . Theories of Probability: An Examination of Foundations . Academic Press , New York , 1973 . FINE, T .L . Theories of Probability: An Examination of Foundations. Academic Press, New York, 1973.
- COVER , T.M . On determining the irrationality of the mean of a random variable . Ann. Statist. 1 ( 1973 ), 862 - 471 . COVER, T.M. On determining the irrationality of the mean of a random variable. Ann. Statist. 1 (1973), 862-471. · doi:10.1214/aos/1176342507
- CHAITIN , G . J . Information-theoretic computational complexity . IEEE Trans. IT-20 ( 1974 ), 10 - 15 . CHAITIN, G .J . Information-theoretic computational complexity. IEEE Trans. IT-20 (1974), 10-15.
- LE vis, M . Mathematical Logic for Computer Scientists. Rep. TR-131 , M.I.T. Project MAC , 1974 , pp. 145 - 147 , 153. LEvis, M. Mathematical Logic for Computer Scientists. Rep. TR-131, M.I.T. Project MAC, 1974, pp. 145-147, 153.
- 10.1145/321832.321839 · DOI
- MINSKY , M. L. Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines . Prentice-Hall , Englewood Cliffs, N. J. , 1967 , pp. 54 , 55, 66. MINSKY, M. L. Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1967, pp. 54, 55, 66.
- MINSK~ , M. , AND PAPERT , S. Perceptrons: An Introduction to Computational Geometry . M.I.T. Press , Cambridge, Mass ., 1969 , pp. 150 , 153. MINSK~, M., AND PAPERT, S. Perceptrons: An Introduction to Computational Geometry. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1969, pp. 150, 153.
- SCHWARTZ , J . T . On Programming : An Interim Report on the SETL Project. Installment I: Generalities. Lecture Notes, Courant Institute , New York University , New York , 1973 , pp. 1 - 20 . SCHWARTZ, J .T . On Programming: An Interim Report on the SETL Project. Installment I: Generalities. Lecture Notes, Courant Institute, New York University, New York, 1973, pp. 1-20.
- BENNETT , C.H . Logical reversibility of computation . IBM J. Res. Develop. 17 ( 1973 ), 525 - 532 . BENNETT, C.H. Logical reversibility of computation. IBM J. Res. Develop. 17 (1973), 525-532. · DOI · Paper page
- DALEY R .P . The extent and density of sequences within the minimal-program complexity hierarchies. J. Comput. and Syst. Scis. (to appear). 10.1016/S0022-0000(74)80004-8 DALEY R .P . The extent and density of sequences within the minimal-program complexity hierarchies. J. Comput. and Syst. Scis. (to appear). 10.1016/S0022-0000(74)80004-8 · doi:10.1016/s0022-0000(74)80004-8
- ELIAS P. Minimum times and memories needed to compute the values of a function. J. Cornput. and Syst. Scis. (to appear). 10.1016/S0022-0000(74)80007-3 ELIAS P. Minimum times and memories needed to compute the values of a function. J. Cornput. and Syst. Scis. (to appear). 10.1016/S0022-0000(74)80007-3 · doi:10.1016/s0022-0000(74)80007-3
- 10.1109/TIT.1975.1055349 · DOI · Paper page
- HELLMAN , M.E. The information theoretic approach to cryptography . Center for Systems Research , Stanford U. , Stanford, Calif., 1974 . HELLMAN, M.E. The information theoretic approach to cryptography. Center for Systems Research, Stanford U., Stanford, Calif., 1974.
- CHAITI~ , G.J. Randomness and mathematical proof. Sc/. Amer. ~35, 5 (May 1975 ), in press. CHAITI~, G.J. Randomness and mathematical proof. Sc/. Amer. ~35, 5 (May 1975), in press.
Cited by
The thermodynamics of computation—a review
Bennett, C. H. (1982) · International Journal of Theoretical Physics · doi:10.1007/bf02084158 · Cited by 2,006
Complexity measures of supervised classification problems
Ho, T. K., & Basu, M. (2002) · IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence · doi:10.1109/34.990132 · Cited by 734
Minimum complexity density estimation
Barron, A. R., & Cover, T. M. (1991) · IEEE Transactions on Information Theory · doi:10.1109/18.86996 · Cited by 497
Bennett, C. H., & Gill, J. (1981) · SIAM Journal on Computing · doi:10.1137/0210008 · Cited by 381
Universal prediction of individual sequences
Feder, M., Merhav, N., & Gutman, M. (1992) · IEEE Transactions on Information Theory · doi:10.1109/18.144706 · Cited by 373
Metadata
- Authors
- Chaitin, G. J.
- Venue
- Journal of the ACM
- Published
- 1975-07
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 329-340
- ISSN
- 0004-5411 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-735X
- OpenAlex
- W2020311636
- Cited by
- 849
- References
- 3
- FWCI
- 11.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A Theory of Program Size Formally Identical to Information Theory. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1145/321892.321894
- The paper
- Chaitin, G. J. (1975). A Theory of Program Size Formally Identical to Information Theory. Journal of the ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/321892.321894
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.