An Algorithm for Computing the Fundamental Matrix of a Markov Chain

An Algorithm for Computing the Fundamental Matrix of a Markov Chain

A stable algorithm for computing the fundamental matrix (I-Q)$^{-1}$ of a Markov chain is proposed, where Q is a substochastic matrix. The proposed algorithm utilizes the GTH algorithm (Grassmann, Taskar and Heyman, 1985) which is turned out to be stable for finding the steady state distribution of a finite Markov chain. Our algorithm involves no subtractions and therefore loss of significant digits due to concellation is ruled out completely while Gaussian elimination involves subtractions and thus may lead to loss of accuracy due to cancellation. We present numerical evidence to show that our algorithm achieves higher accuracy than the ordinagy Gaussian elimination.