text: user7446: I want to analyze some viral sequences. I want to use shanon entropy as a measure to analyze the sequences. However I do  not understand the concept of shannon entropy. Would anyone explain please how it works or advise on some resources i can use to understand shannon entropy.
  
  user3848: I think there needs to be clarification of the question. Shannon entropy is not the same thing as the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H), commonly referred to as the Shannon index.
  The reason I brought it up is because you have the tag "population genetics". Shannon diversity index is commonly used in population genetics to compare species richness (the number of species in a given area) and their relative abundance.
  Shannon entropy is more to do protein structure, which isn't really population genetics, but can relate to how stable a given mutation might be. That is not really population genetics however, population genetics is about abundance of a given allele in this context. 
  I am pretty sure that on this site most responders will recommend alternative free energy approaches to perform this style of analysis.
  
original_text: 7446: <p>I want to analyze some viral sequences. I want to use shanon entropy as a measure to analyze the sequences. However I do  not understand the concept of shannon entropy. Would anyone explain please how it works or advise on some resources i can use to understand shannon entropy.</p>
   3848: <p>I think there needs to be clarification of the question. Shannon entropy is not the same thing as the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H), commonly referred to as the Shannon index.</p>
  
  <p>The reason I brought it up is because you have the tag "population genetics". Shannon diversity index is commonly used in population genetics to compare species richness (the number of species in a given area) and their relative abundance.</p>
  
  <p>Shannon entropy is more to do protein structure, which isn't really population genetics, but can relate to how stable a given mutation might be. That is not really population genetics however, population genetics is about abundance of a given allele in this context. </p>
  
  <p>I am pretty sure that on this site most responders will recommend alternative free energy approaches to perform this style of analysis.</p>
  