• A = an alphabet to be encoded into binary code, B; in this page it will be the english alphabet in whole or in part
• e = an element from the alphabet, A, to be encoded
• B = the binary alphabet; all encoding discussed in this page will be from an alphabet A into the binary alphabet, B; the binary alphabet consists of two elements, {0,1}
• bit = an element in the binary alphbet, B; a 0 or a 1
• E = entropy; the average information content of all possible elements, e, of an alphabet, A
• F = frequency; the number of occurances a single element, e, in a message is F:e: the sum of the frequencies of all the elements in a message, M, is F:M
• i = any integer greater than or equal to 1; i is used to count or identify the number of elements, e, in a message, M
• log = the log function; in this project, log is to the base 2 - this is because all of the encoding is into the binary alphabet, B
• M = a message; any combination of elements, e, from an alphabet, A
• P = probability; the probability of an element, e, in a message, M, is equal to F:e / F:M
  • P:e = the probability of an element, e
  • P:i = the probability of the i-th element, e