Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-options-i-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2004/n/n1/solution
Past exam of the options I course of the University of Oxford 2004 N N1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Condition on the state after steps and use the Markov property and time-homogeneous Markov property:This is the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation, or . A stationary distribution is a probability row vector with nonnegative entries summing to one and . Inductively , so a chain started with that distribution retains it at every time.
For the given matrix, its first stationary equation is . Normalization gives . The third equation gives , hence . ThereforeDirect multiplication verifies the second equation as well. The finite chain is irreducible, so this stationary probability distribution is unique.
New to topics? Read the docs here!