Feb 02, 2017
NISTIR 8139
DRAFT Identifying Uniformity with Entropy and Divergence
NIST invites comments on Draft NISTIR 8139, Identifying Uniformity with Entropy and Divergence.
Entropy models are frequently utilized in tests identifying
either qualities of randomness or randomness uniformity of formal
and/or observed distributions. The NIST Special Publications SP
800-22 and SP 800-90 (A, B, & C) discuss tests and methods
leveraging both Shannon and min entropies. Shannon and min entropies
represent two particular cases of Renyi entropy, which is a more
general one-parameter entropy model. Renyi entropy insightfully
unifies Hartley, Shannon, collision, and min entropies and belongs
to the class of one-parameter entropy models, such as entropies
named after Havrda-Charvat-Daroczy, Tsallis, Abe, and Kaniadakis.
Renyi entropy along with the other members of the one parameter
entropy models class can be in turn viewed as a case of the Sharma-Mittal
entropy, which is a bi-parametric generalized entropy model. This
NISTIR focuses on using Renyi and Tsallis entropy and divergence
models to analyze similarities and differences between probability
distributions of interest. The report introduces extensions for the
traditional uniformity identification and measurement techniques
that were proposed in the NIST SP 800-22 and SP 800-90 (A, B, & C).
Email comments to:
Comments-IR-8139@nist.gov (Subject: "NISTIR-8139 Proposed
Changes")
Comments due by: March 9, 2017