A theorem on the entropy of certain binary sequences and applications--I

In this, the first part of a two-part paper, we establish a theorem concerning the entropy of a certain sequence of binary random variables. In the sequel we will apply this result to the solution of three problems in multi-user communication, two of which have been open for some time. Specifically we show the following. Let and be binary random -vectors, which are the input and output, respectively, of a binary symmetric channel with "crossover" probability . Let and be the entropies of and , respectively. Then begin{equation} begin{split} frac{1}{n} H{X} geq h(alpha_0), qquad 0 leq alpha_0 &leq 1, Rightarrow \\ qquad qquad &qquad frac{1}{n}H{Y} geq h(alpha_0(1 - p_0) + (1 - alpha_0)p_0) end{split} end{equation} where .