https://aestheticentropy.com/ Recent content on Aesthetic Entropy Hugo en-us Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://aestheticentropy.com/posts/entry-001-partition-function/ Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://aestheticentropy.com/posts/entry-001-partition-function/ <h2 id="the-macro-picture">The Macro Picture</h2> <p>One of the most important and useful concepts that creeps out of physics is the <strong>partition function</strong>. The main idea I will be trying to form here isn&rsquo;t another summary of thermodynamics, but rather how this phenomena—which is extremely useful for our physical observations—can be seen in our every day lives and, most importantly, in our <strong>economies</strong>.</p> <h3 id="the-physical-definition">The Physical Definition</h3> <p>We start by the usual definition of our probability of the system being in a particular state $i$. For everyone familiar with the concept of normalization, we know that this $Z$ factor has to allow this entire thing to add up to be one:</p>