Nat (unit)

Nit, also known as Nat or as Naperian digit or nepit, is a rare common, dimensionless unit for quantitative indication of decision levels in information theory. The name Nat is defined in the standard IEC 60027-3 or ISO 2382-16. The term derives from the name of a developer logarithmic calculation rules, John Napier, from. In contrast to the bit nit is not based on the dual, but on the natural logarithm, ie, to base e instead of base 2

The following applies:

A Nit corresponds to 1/ln ( 2) Bit, these are about 1.44 bits. This follows from the following calculation:

An application of this unit is to be found where the entropies are calculated based on the natural logarithm in Econometrics. Usually Entropiemaße be like today but indicated, for example, the Theil index without any unit.

Natural unit of information

If n mutually exclusive events considered is called the logarithm of n decision content. If you select this the natural logarithm to the base e, to write behind the numerical value of the unit sign Nit and Nat and the number thus obtained is the decision-making levels in natural information units.

Context

Analogous definitions result when using the base-2 logarithm for Shannon unit, expressed in units of bits, and in the case of the logarithm of the Hartley - unit expressed in the rarely used unit Ban.