Posts from:
6th April 2010
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6th April 2010CompressionThe majority of strings can not be compressed. By string I just mean a binary number, which is ultimately what all computerised stuff is. How come? Well, say you wanted to compress a 4-bit string to a 3-bit string. There are 24 possible 4-bit strings, but only 23 possible 3-bit strings: there are twice as many possible 4-bit strings as 3-bit ones. Compression is a lossless process so that the compression can be reversed, so each uncompressed (4-bit) string should match up with a unique compressed (3-bit) string, in a one-to-one correspondance. Yet there are only half as many 3-bit possible strings ...
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About Wilf's Blog
I'm a mathematician, but apart from that, I'm a fairly normal guy. I used to write a blog - this blog. I write (wrote) about whatever is on my mind. It can get quite personal sometimes.
