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A finite-state machine can be used as a representation of a Markov chain. Assuming a sequence of independent and identically distributed input signals (for example, symbols from a binary alphabet chosen by coin tosses), if the machine is in state y at time n , then the probability that it moves to state x at time n + 1 depends only on the ...
Notice that the general state space continuous-time Markov chain is general to such a degree that it has no designated term. While the time parameter is usually discrete, the state space of a Markov chain does not have any generally agreed-on restrictions: the term may refer to a process on an arbitrary state space. [15]
A continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) is a continuous stochastic process in which, for each state, the process will change state according to an exponential random variable and then move to a different state as specified by the probabilities of a stochastic matrix. An equivalent formulation describes the process as changing state according to ...
The original chain is scaled by the fastest transition rate γ, so that transitions occur at the same rate in every state, hence the name. The method is simple to program and efficiently calculates an approximation to the transient distribution at a single point in time (near zero). [1] The method was first introduced by Winfried Grassmann in 1977.
A basic property about an absorbing Markov chain is the expected number of visits to a transient state j starting from a transient state i (before being absorbed). This can be established to be given by the (i, j) entry of so-called fundamental matrix N, obtained by summing Q k for all k (from 0 to ∞).
For a continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) with transition rate matrix, if can be found such that for every pair of states and = holds, then by summing over , the global balance equations are satisfied and is the stationary distribution of the process. [5]
A terminating Markov chain is a Markov chain where all states are transient, except one which is absorbing. Reordering the states, the transition probability matrix of a terminating Markov chain with m {\displaystyle m} transient states is
In this context, the Markov property indicates that the distribution for this variable depends only on the distribution of a previous state. An example use of a Markov chain is Markov chain Monte Carlo, which uses the Markov property to prove that a particular method for performing a random walk will sample from the joint distribution.