Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Communications - digital archive 

Abstract

In this review, analysis is treated as a process of gaining information on chemical composition, taking place in a stochastic system. A model of this system is outlined, and a survey of measures and methods of information theory is presented to an extent as useful for qualitative or identification, quantitative and trace analysis and multicomponent analysis. It is differentiated between information content of an analytical signal and information gain, or amount of information, obtained by the analysis, and their interrelation is demonstrated. Some notions of analytical chemistry are quantified from the information theory and system theory point of view; it is also demonstrated that the use of fuzzy set theory can be suitable. The review sums up the principal results of the series of 25 papers which have been published in this journal since 1971.