markoff process

2 definitions found

markoff process - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Markov process \Mark"ov pro`cess\, n. [after A. A. Markov,
     Russian mathematician, b. 1856, d. 1922.] (Statistics)
     a random process in which the probabilities of states in a
     series depend only on the properties of the immediately
     preceding state or the next preceeding state, independent of
     the path by which the preceding state was reached. It is
     distinguished from a Markov chain in that the states of a
     Markov process may be continuous as well as discrete. [Also
     spelled Markoff process.]
     [PJC]

markoff process - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Markoff process
      n 1: a simple stochastic process in which the distribution of
           future states depends only on the present state and not on
           how it arrived in the present state [syn: Markov process,
           Markoff process]