Mathematical formulation of the concept of Information Need

Mathematical formulation of a concept can be beneficial from both theoretical and practical standpoints. Theoretically speak-ing, mathematical formulation can bring together numerous interrelated variables and hence can aid in understanding the the-oretical domain of a concept. There are practical benefits as well: bringing variables together also requires identification and defining the relationships among variables. This leads to synthesis of research into set of equations and to a new way of repre-senting a concept and its theoretical tradition. This paper presents an initial attempt to mathematically represent the concept of information need using a set of equations. This is a first attempt of its kind and will hopefully pave the way for further refining the proposed formulation and leading to its application to other concepts in the field of information behavior.