Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ii/paper-1/26i/iv/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 1 26I iv Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The jump chain records the successive states visited at actual jumps of the continuous-time Markov chain. Put . For an irreducible chain with at least two states, all , and its transition probabilities are for , with . The holding time in state is exponential with mean .
If , set and . ThenConversely, implies that , normalized to sum one, satisfies . ThereforeJump observations overrepresent states with short holding times. A one-state chain has no actual jumps; its trivial equilibrium can be handled separately, without using this division by .
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