markoff process

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

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}]

from The 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]