The EGRS in collaboration with the Graduate School of h_da is organizing the online-Seminar:

„A Probabilistic Look into the Future: Markov Chains”

scheduled for November 27, 2025, between 12:30 and 2:00 p.m.

Speaker: Professor Ioan Rasa, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Automation and Computer Science, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Registration is required for participation.

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Abstract:

A system evolves over time, transitioning between different possible states. These transitions are not deterministic; instead, they occur randomly, governed by underlying probabilities. In many real-world situations, such as weather patterns, financial markets, biological processes, or decision-making systems, the next state of a system does not depend on its entire past, but only on its current state. This property, known as the Markov property, forms the foundation of Markov chains.
By modeling the system as a sequence of states connected through probabilistic transitions, we can describe its evolution mathematically and make predictions about its future behavior. Even though individual transitions are uncertain, the overall long-term behavior of the system can often be characterized precisely, for example, by identifying stable distributions or expected recurrence times.
In this presentation, we explore, using only minimal mathematical concepts, how Markov chains offer a probabilistic framework for understanding dynamic systems, showing how past information can help us make informed predictions about future states.