Descriptive Statistics and Entropy Analysis

In addition to calculating two types of statistics, Hex Editor Neo also calculates some cumulative values for statistics results.

Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive Statistics is calculated for both General Statistics and Pattern Statistics results and is a standard statistical calculation for a random value distribution. The following values are calculated:

• Mean
• Sample Variance
• Standard Deviation
• Standard Error
• Kurtosis
• Skewness
• Median
• Mode (one or several)
• Range
• Minimum value
• Maximum value
• Sum

Entropy Analysis

Entropy analysis is performed for General Statistics mode only. The single-byte (256 different symbols) alphabet is used in entropy calculations. The following values are computed:

Entropy

Entropy value in bits and as percentage from maximum (which is 8 for selected alphabet). The higher entropy, the less redundancy in the file.

Redundancy

Redundancy equals to 100% - Entropy as percentage. Indicates the data redundancy in a file (or selection).

Compression size limit

Theoretical compressed size limit. Again, as a simple single-byte alphabet is used in computing entropy, this “theoretical” limit may be much larger than the real compressed file size, produced by any modern compressor, as they use advanced alphabet selection strategies.