Author: Carlos Polanco

Markov Chain Process (Theory and Cases)

eBook: US $59 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $94
Printed Copy: US $65
Library License: US $236
ISBN: 978-981-5080-48-3 (Print)
ISBN: 978-981-5080-47-6 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2023
DOI: 10.2174/9789815080476123010001

Introduction

Markov Chain Process: Theory and Cases is designed for students of natural and formal sciences. It explains the fundamentals related to a stochastic process that satisfies the Markov property. It presents 10 structured chapters that provide a comprehensive insight into the complexity of this subject by presenting many examples and case studies that will help readers to deepen their acquired knowledge and relate learned theory to practice.

This book is divided into four parts. The first part thoroughly examines the definitions of probability, independent events, mutually (and not mutually) exclusive events, conditional probability, and Bayes’ theorem, which are essential elements in Markov’s theory. The second part examines the elements of probability vectors, stochastic matrices, regular stochastic matrices, and fixed points. The third part presents multiple cases in various disciplines: Predictive computational science, Urban complex systems, Computational finance, Computational biology, Complex systems theory, and Computational Science in Engineering. The last part introduces learners to Fortran 90 programs and Linux scripts.

To make the comprehension of Markov Chain concepts easier, all the examples, exercises, and case studies presented in this book are completely solved and given in a separate section.

This book serves as a textbook (either primary or auxiliary) for students required to understand Markov Chains in their courses, and as a reference book for researchers who want to learn about methods that involve Markov Processes.

Audience: Students of mathematics, advanced life sciences and formal science, researchers.

Preface

This Markov Chain Process book has been designed for students of Sciences. It contains the fundamentals related to a stochastic process that satisfies the Markov property. To make the comprehension of this important concept easier, all the examples, exercises, and case studies are completely solved.

In the first part, this ebook thoroughly examines the definitions of probability, independent events, mutually (and not mutually) exclusive events, conditional probability, and Bayes’ theorem that are essential elements in Markov’s theory.

The second part examines the Markov Chain Process elements of probability vectors, stochastic matrices, regular stochastic matrices, and fixed points. It studies the components of the matrix of transition probabilities or the transition matrix, Absorbing Markov Chain Process, and Ergodic Markov Chain Process. It also reviews two basic theorems the Law of Large Numbers and the Central Limit Theorem, under two different types of granularity discrete-time and continuous- time.

The third part of the ebook presents multiple cases in various disciplines: Predictive computational science, Urban complex systems, Computational finance, Compu- tational biology, Complex systems theory, and Computational Science in Engineering.

The appendix section provides Fortran 90 programs and Linux scripts which allow you to reproduce the topics exposed in this work. “As of July 2022, Fortran was ranked 12th in the TIOBE programming community index, and that in addition to the C and C++ languages it is used today in scientific computing in Supercomputers platforms and High-Performance Computing clusters”.

The author hopes that the reader interested in studying the fundamentals of this topic finds useful the material here presented and that the students of this field find this information motivating. The author would like to acknowledge the Faculty of Sciences at Universidad Nacional Aut´onoma de M´exico and Instituto Nacional de Cardiolog´ıa Ignacio Ch´avez for providing useful cases.

Carlos Polanco
Department of Electromechanical Instrumentation
Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez
México

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Faculty of Sciences
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
México