Information Once Meant Shaping the Mind
Info is short for information. The Latin verb behind it means to give form to something.
Info is an informal shortening of *information*. Latin *informare* meant to give form to, to shape — informing someone was forming their mind, giving shape to what had been formless. Teaching and moulding were the same image. The modern technical sense, in which information is a measurable quantity, was defined by Claude Shannon in 1948, who showed it could be counted in bits regardless of meaning.
- Information. *More info.*
- Information — the full word. *Information.*
- To give form. *Informare.*
- Bit — its unit. *A bit.*
- Latin — *forma*, a shape. *The root.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | info | Info. |
| Full form | information | Information. |
| Verb | inform | Informing. |
| Adjective | informative | Informative. |
| Latin | informare | To shape. |
- Send me the info.Informal.
- Informare means to shape.Etymology.
- Shannon defined it in 1948.History.
What Shannon measured
- Information is the reduction of uncertainty
- A message that could not surprise you carries none
- The unit is the bit, one yes-or-no answer
- Meaning is irrelevant to the measurement
- The 1948 paper founded the whole of information theory
Short for *information*, from Latin *informare*, to give form to, from *forma*, a shape.
How does shaping give us information?
Latin informare meant to give form. Informing someone was shaping their mind, giving form to what had been formless.
What did Claude Shannon do?
He defined information mathematically in 1948, showing it could be measured in bits as a reduction of uncertainty, regardless of meaning.