Math Modeling with markov chains

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In summary, the conversation discusses the idea of modeling different states of education, such as elementary school, middle school, high school, community college, and 4-year university, and how they are connected through probabilities. The goal is to use a state diagram and Markov chain to analyze these education levels and determine the transition probabilities between them. There are also questions about incorporating the duration of each education level into the model and seeking guidance on the correct approach to using Markov chains and transition matrices.
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chuy52506
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So I am trying to model the different states of education one can achieve. These include Elementary school, Middle school, high school, community college, 4 year university. Each one will be a different state(Ex state 1 = elementary school). Some states will be connected together with a probability. This means that there is a probability of going from one state to another depending on which state you are in.
The state connected are elementary school → middle school;middle school→high school; high school→community college; high school→4 years university;community college→4 year university;4 year university→community college. So you can go from high school to eaith a community college or 4 year university and so on. All these states will be connected to a drop out state which will be an "absorption" state. This means once drop out state is reached there is no leaving it.

I was thinking of modeling this with a state diagram, markov chain to be exact. I'm trying to put this into a transition matrix where the inputs are the probabilities. For each element, Sij, i represents the starting education level state, and j represents the ending education level state for one year. This means that the row is the beginning location, and the column is the ending location after one year. We then multiply this by a initial distribution vector whose inputs are the initial distribution of percentages for being at a given state at t=0. We call this vector V(t). Thus T being the transition matrix, T*V(0)=V(1) and in general T*V(n)=V(n+1).
I know each education level isn't a year long so is there anyone i can include that into my model that also? Am I going in the right direction with this? I am not sure if this is the correct way to utilize markov chains and transition matrices.
 
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Can anyone point me in the right direction?
 
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chuy52506 said:
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Explain what your goal is. Are you trying to do a serious analysis of education levels? or are you trying to learn about Markov chains by making up a simple example? - or are you trying to learn about Markov chains by making up a complicated example and implementing in a computer program?

There are Markov chains that proceed through time in discrete steps that there are Markov chains that have distributions that tell the probability that a state change will occur at time t. If you want to follow the usual path of learning about Markov chains, you start with the ones that proceed in discrete steps.
 

What is a Markov chain?

A Markov chain is a mathematical model used to describe a sequence of events where the probability of transitioning from one state to another depends only on the current state and not on the previous states.

How is a Markov chain used in math modeling?

A Markov chain can be used to model systems that involve random transitions between different states over time. This can help in predicting future outcomes and understanding the behavior of the system.

What are the assumptions made in Markov chain modeling?

The main assumptions made in Markov chain modeling are that the system is in a finite number of states, the transitions between states are probabilistic, and the future state depends only on the current state and not on the previous states.

What is the difference between discrete and continuous-time Markov chains?

Discrete-time Markov chains have a set of states and a fixed time interval between transitions, while continuous-time Markov chains allow for transitions to occur at any time. Discrete-time Markov chains are often used for modeling systems that change over time in discrete steps, while continuous-time Markov chains are used for systems with continuous changes.

What are some real-life applications of Markov chain modeling?

Markov chain modeling has various applications in different fields such as finance, biology, engineering, and computer science. Some examples include predicting stock market trends, analyzing gene sequences, modeling traffic flow, and predicting user behavior on social media platforms.

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