Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Fiona Enright

Spectre of Markov

"A statistical process in which the probability of an event, in a sequence of random events, is influenced by the outcome of the preceding event. Any system in which an outcome depends in part on the previous outcome may be described as exhibiting a Markov property. Any system in which successive events are partially dependent is said to have a ‘memory’ of the preceding event. The methodology is formalized using a transition matrix in which entries represent the probabilities of transition from one state to another. When the matrix is powered, the probabilities represent transitions from one state to another in two steps. Repeated powering will develop a matrix in which all rows are the same. States may also be defined that are absorptive, when the realization of the process terminates, or reflexive, when a process enters a state and then returns to the previous state. The utility of the process depends on the length of the record on which the probabilities are established, whether the series exhibits the Markov property, is stationary and whether the transition probabilities are invariant with time." Brunsden, D. (2016). Markov process. In D. S. G. Thomas, & Goudie Andrew (Eds.), The dictionary of physical geography (4th ed.). Blackwell Publishers. Credo Reference: http://ocadu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/bkphsgeo/markov_process/0?institutionId=4079