light quanta
The equation explained
In wordsThe entropy of the two systems taken as one is the sum of their two entropies, and it is also some function of the probability of the combined system's state.OverviewTaken together as one system, the pair has an entropy that is the sum of the two entropies, and by the same principle it is also a function of the pair's probability.Full explanationRegard the two systems as a single system with entropy and probability . Entropy adds for systems that do not act on each other, so is the sum . And the pair is a system in its own right, so the principle of the preceding line applies to it too: its entropy is some function of its probability. The next line says how is built from and , and together the three lines fix what the function must be.Every stepThe two systems do not interact, so the entropy of the pair is the sum of their entropies.The pair is itself a system, so its entropy is a function of the probability of its state. The function is not assumed to be either system's own function.Also