INFORMATION FLOWS IN HIERARCHICAL SYSTEMS
Roger C. Conant · International Journal of General Systems · 1974
Relations between information flows and structure are discussed for two major classes of systems which have information-processing functions. It is shown that for both classes hierarchical structure is ideally suited for efficiency in the information processing. A partition law of information flow is developed which shows that the sum of the information flows through atomic components of a deterministic system can be partitioned into flow within the system devoted to system coordination, input flow which affects the output (throughput), and input flow which is blocked by the system.