Abstract
Maier, R.S., Phase-type distributions and the structure of finite Markov chains, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 46 (1993) 449-453. We show that all discrete phase-type distributions arise as first passage times (i.e., absorption times) in finite-state Markov chains with a certain recursive internal structure. This arises from the special properties of an automata-theoretic algorithm which can be used to solve the inverse problem for phase-type distributions: the construction of a Markov chain with specified absorption time distribution.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 449-453 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 22 1993 |
Keywords
- Markov chains
- Phase-type distributions
- first passage times
- generating functions
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computational Mathematics
- Applied Mathematics