Markov chain (plural Markov chains)
(mathematics, probability theory) A stochastic process where the probability of transitioning to a future state depends only on the current state and not on the sequence of events that preceded it.
In a simple weather Markov chain, if it's sunny today, there might be:
regardless of the weather in previous days.
(computing) A mathematical system used in machine learning and artificial intelligence for generating sequences of words or other tokens based on statistical likelihood.
Text generated by a Markov chain trained on Shakespeare:
"To sleep: perchance to dream, ay, there's the rub that makes calamity of noble mind."