Talk:One-bit message
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[edit]"One-bit messages can be used to communicate the outcome of situations with two potential outcomes, such as a coin toss" - can they? The article seems to describe them as "a signal is either sent or not" rather than "a signal is sent which takes one of two possible values". If you communicate a coin toss with a car horn - honk for heads, silence for tails - I cannot distinguish a tails result from a breakdown or delay in communication, or a failure to flip the coin. --McGeddon (talk) 17:28, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
- I have a feeling that the term "one-bit message" has been used in a few different contexts. The original version of this article only concerned the "signal sent or not sent" meaning. I couldn't find extensive modern usage of the term in that context but could find a few references to it in a computer science context where the coin toss metaphor is often used. I tend to favor the former meaning rather than the latter due to the negative vs. unknown problem you mention. More references may help! JHCaufield - talk - 16:57, 18 March 2015 (UTC)