Concepts: Complexity
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New England Complex Systems Institute
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Complexity is ...[the abstract notion of complexity has been captured in many different ways. Most, if not all of these, are related to each other and they fall into two classes of definitions]:
- ...the (minimal) length of a description of the system.
- ...the (minimal) amount of time it takes to create the system.
The length of a description is measured in units of information. The former definition is closely related to Shannon information theory and algorithmic complexity, and the latter is related to computational complexity.
Related concepts: description, information, algorithmic complexity, computational complexity, emergence and complexity, emergence, complexity profile.
Copyright © 2011 Yaneer Bar-Yam All rights reserved.
New England Complex Systems Institute 238 Main Street Suite 319 Cambridge, MA 02142 Phone: 617-547-4100 Fax: 617-661-7711 Email: 
Copyright © 2000-2013 New England Complex Systems Institute. All rights reserved.