In [[probability theory]], particularly [[information theory]], the '''conditional mutual information'''<ref name = Wyner1978>{{cite journal|last=Wyner|first=A. D. |title=A definition of conditional mutual information for arbitrary ensembles|url=|journal=Information and Control|year=1978|volume=38|issue=1|pages=51–59|doi=10.1016/s0019-9958(78)90026-8|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name = Dobrushin1959>{{cite journal|last=Dobrushin|first=R. L. |title=General formulation of Shannon's main theorem in information theory|journal=Uspekhi Mat. Nauk|year=1959|volume=14|pages=3–104}}</ref> is, in its most basic form, the [[expected value]] of the [[mutual information]] of two random variables given the value of a third. | In [[probability theory]], particularly [[information theory]], the '''conditional mutual information'''<ref name = Wyner1978>{{cite journal|last=Wyner|first=A. D. |title=A definition of conditional mutual information for arbitrary ensembles|url=|journal=Information and Control|year=1978|volume=38|issue=1|pages=51–59|doi=10.1016/s0019-9958(78)90026-8|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name = Dobrushin1959>{{cite journal|last=Dobrushin|first=R. L. |title=General formulation of Shannon's main theorem in information theory|journal=Uspekhi Mat. Nauk|year=1959|volume=14|pages=3–104}}</ref> is, in its most basic form, the [[expected value]] of the [[mutual information]] of two random variables given the value of a third. |