Paper 4, Section I, H
Part IB, 2019
For a Markov chain on a state space with , we let for be the probability that when .
(a) Let be a Markov chain. Prove that if is recurrent at a state , then . [You may use without proof that the number of returns of a Markov chain to a state when starting from has the geometric distribution.]
(b) Let and be independent simple symmetric random walks on starting from the origin 0 . Let . Prove that and deduce that . [You may use without proof that for all and , and that is recurrent at 0.]