Your use of the word random is incorrect: The throw of a dice is random, but only contains 2.6 bits of entropy.
why invent new terms? Why use them to mean at least two different
The throw isn't random, the data read from the die after it is thrown is random. The use of the term in many of the postings I have read indicate the need for an "unpredictable" quantity in most cases. This quantity may be drawn from a source that has entropy, but it is random. things?
This is old term of the art, a term of information theory: We use the same word because entropy in information theory has the same measure as entropy in thermodynamics.
In both cases the entropy, measured in bits, of an ensemble of possible states is sum of - P(i) * lg[P(i)] over all the possible states.
In thermodynamics, counting states in this fashion is a dicey proposition, but I appreciate the clarification. Still, it seems to me that the property "bits of entropy" is often substituted for the actual "bits of random data" and is just as puzzling as gathering the "entropy of cool steam"! One can't _do_ anything with a dimensionless measurement. By which I mean, the measure of a property of data is not the data itself, so it still seems like the usage is odd, at times. However, your explanation does address some of the phrases I have seen. Does this mean that entropy is conserved in information theory? dvw