LIVERSIDGE: When The Mathematical Theory of Communication was published, there was an indignant review by a certain mathematician, accusing you of mathematical dishonesty because your results weren’t proved, he said, with mathematical rigor. Did you think that plain silly, or did you think, “Well, maybe I should work hard to meet his criticisms?” SHANNON: I didn’t like his review. He hadn’t read the paper carefully. You can write mathematics line by line with each tiny inference indicated, or you can assume that the reader understands what you are talking about. I was confident I was correct,
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