A state that, when entered, cannot be left. The probability of going from an absorbing state to any other state is 0.
A condition that exists when the state probabilities for a future period are the same as the state probabilities for a previous period.
A matrix that is the inverse of the I minus B matrix. It is needed to compute equilibrium conditions when absorbing states are involved.
The fraction of the population that shops at a particular store or market. When expressed as a fraction, market shares can be used in place of state probabilities.
A type of analysis that allows us to predict the future by using the state probabilities and the matrix of transition probabilities.
A matrix containing all transition probabilities for a certain process or system.
The probability of an event occurring at a point in time. An example is the probability that a person will be shopping at a given grocery store during a given month.
A state probability when the equilibrium condition has been reached.
The conditional probability that we will be in a future state given a current or existing state.
A collection or vector of all state probabilities for a given system or process. The vector of state probabilities could be the initial state or a future state.