Markov Chain - General State Space

General State Space

Many results for Markov chains with finite state space can be generalized to chains with uncountable state space through Harris chains. The main idea is to see if there is a point in the state space that the chain hits with probability one. Generally, it is not true for continuous state space, however, we can define sets A and B along with a positive number ε and a probability measure ρ, such that

Then we could collapse the sets into an auxiliary point α, and a recurrent Harris chain can be modified to contain α. Lastly, the collection of Harris chains is a comfortable level of generality, which is broad enough to contain a large number of interesting examples, yet restrictive enough to allow for a rich theory.

Read more about this topic:  Markov Chain

Famous quotes containing the words general, state and/or space:

    We raised a simple prayer
    Before we left the spot,
    That in the general mowing
    That place might be forgot;
    Or if not all so favored,
    Obtain such grace of hours
    That none should mow the grass there
    While so confused with flowers.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.
    Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)

    The within, all that inner space one never sees, the brain and the heart and other caverns where thought and feeling dance their sabbath.
    Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)