Activity 4.5.3
Consider the matrices
Verify that both \(A\) and \(B\) are stochastic matrices.
Find the eigenvalues of \(A\) and then find a steady-state vector for \(A\text{.}\)
We will form the Markov chain beginning with the vector \(\xvec_0 = \twovec{1}{0}\) and defining \(\xvec_{k+1} = A\xvec_k\text{.}\) The Sage cell below constructs the first \(N\) terms of the Markov chain with the command
What do you notice about the Markov chain? Does it converge to the steady-state vector for \(A\text{?}\)markov_chain(A, x0, N)
. Define the matrix \(A\) and vector \(x0\) and evaluate the cell to find the first 10 terms of the Markov chain.Now find the eigenvalues of \(B\) along with a steady-state vector for \(B\text{.}\)
As before, find the first 10 terms in the Markov chain beginning with \(\xvec_0 = \twovec{1}{0}\) and \(\xvec_{k+1} = B\xvec_k\text{.}\) What do you notice about the Markov chain? Does it converge to the steady-state vector for \(B\text{?}\)
What condition on the eigenvalues of a stochastic matrix will guarantee that a Markov chain will converge to a steady-state vector?