This question on a theorem in information theory called Mrs. Gerber's lemma piqued my curiosity. Who is this individual, and why the "mrs." ? A quick Google search was not informative, although it did produce a Mr. Gerber's lemma (arXiv:1802.05861) -- can someone enlighten me?
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asked Jul 21, 2021 at 19:41
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17$\begingroup$ I heard during an information theory course that Wyner and Ziv ideated the lemma during a stay at Mrs. Gerber's inn. $\endgroup$– Christian ChapmanJul 21, 2021 at 20:03
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2 Answers
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Check out the original reference "A theorem on the entropy of certain binary sequences and applications - I" by Wyner and Ziv: https://doi.org/10.1109/TIT.1973.1055107. Footnote 2 on page one explains
This result is known as “Mrs. Gerber’s Lemma” in honor of a certain lady whose presence was keenly felt by the authors at the time this research was done.
I'm not sure you're going to get more of an explanation than that.
answered Jul 21, 2021 at 19:45
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4$\begingroup$ hmm, Wyner and Ziv must have been asked the question, who and why, they left us no answer? $\endgroup$ Jul 21, 2021 at 19:49
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17$\begingroup$ According to Wikipedia, Jacob Ziv is alive and active: he accepted the IEEE medal of honour this very year. I suggest writing to him and asking. $\endgroup$ Jul 21, 2021 at 21:08
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3$\begingroup$ good idea, I sent an email inquiry to professor Ziv. $\endgroup$ Jul 21, 2021 at 21:32
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42$\begingroup$ well, professor Ziv responded promptly: As far as I recall, the name "Mrs. Gerber" was an insider joke shared by Aaron and myself. -- so that is it, we won't know more & I will accept this answer. $\endgroup$ Jul 22, 2021 at 14:14
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Aaron used to tell us (his colleagues at Bell Labs) that Jacob was renting a place from Mrs. Gerber while visiting Bell Labs and working on the lemma with Aaron. Mrs. Gerber interrupted them a few times when they worked at Jacob's home.
