The Medical Prognosis for a Patient with a Certain Disease

Essay

The medical prognosis for a patient with a certain disease is to recover, to die, to exhibit symptom 1, or to exhibit symptom 2. The matrix of transition probabilities is $$\begin{array} { c | c c c c } & \text { Recover } & \text { Die } & \mathrm { S } _ { 1 } & \mathrm {~S} _ { 2 } \\\hline \text { Recover } & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\\text { Die } & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\\mathrm {~S} _ { 1 } & 1 / 4 & 1 / 4 & 1 / 3 & 1 / 6 \\\mathrm {~S} _ { 2 } & 1 / 4 & 1 / 8 & 1 / 8 & 1 / 2\end{array}$$
a.What are the absorbing states?
b.What is the probability that a patient with symptom 2 will recover?