Kraft's Inequality - Formal Statement

Formal Statement

Let each source symbol from the alphabet

be encoded into a uniquely decodable code over an alphabet of size with codeword lengths

Then

Conversely, for a given set of natural numbers satisfying the above inequality, there exists a uniquely decodable code over an alphabet of size with those codeword lengths.

A commonly occurring special case of a uniquely decodable code is a prefix code. Kraft's inequality therefore also holds for any prefix code.

Read more about this topic:  Kraft's Inequality

Famous quotes containing the words formal and/or statement:

    It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between “ideas” and “things,” both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is “real” or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction.
    Charles, Jr. Feidelson, U.S. educator, critic. Symbolism and American Literature, ch. 1, University of Chicago Press (1953)

    No statement about God is simply, literally true. God is far more than can be measured, described, defined in ordinary language, or pinned down to any particular happening.
    David Jenkins (b. 1925)