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Mathematics

Markov Chains and Their Application to Random Processes

Quick fact

Markov chains were invented by Russian mathematician Andrey Markov in 1906 to analyze the distribution of vowels and consonants in Pushkin's poem 'Eugene Onegin'—a purely literary puzzle that gave birth to a tool now used across science and engineering.

Why this is interesting

Have you ever wondered how a simple rule—like 'the next step depends only on where you are now'—can explain the behavior of a drunkard's walk, the spread of a rumor, or even how search engines rank web pages? This is the startling power of a Markov chain.