In this chapter, we gave a detailed introduction to Markov chains. We talked about different types of Markov chains, mainly chains with a discrete state space, with either discrete time or continuous time. We also introduced the concepts of time-homogeneous and non-time-homogeneous Markov chains. We discussed the different properties of Markov chains in detail, and provided relevant examples and code.
Markov chains and their properties are the basic concepts on which HMMs are built. In the next chapter, we will discuss HMMs in much more detail.