Markov process

Process whose future behavior cannot be accurately predicted from its past behavior (except the current or present behavior) and which involves random chance or probability. Behavior of a business or economy, flow of traffic, progress of an epidemic, all are examples of Markov processes. Named after the inventor of Markov analysis, the Russian mathematician Andrei Andreevich Markov (1856-1922). Also called stochastic process. See also Brownian motion and random walk theory.