This means that the Markov chain may be modeled as a n*n matrix, where n is the number of possible states. An example of a process which may be modeled by a Markov chain is the sequence of faces of a die showing up, if you are allowed to rotate the die wrt an edge. The corresponding matrix is. As usual, Wikipedia and MathWorld are your friends. share | cite | improve this answer.
Amino acid. Amino acid, any of a group of organic molecules that consist of a basic amino group (âNH2), an acidic carboxyl group (âCOOH), and an organic R group (or side chain) that is unique to each amino acid. The term amino acid is short for Î±-amino [alpha-amino] carboxylic acid. Each molecule contains a central carbon (C) atom, called the Î±-carbon, to which both an amino and a carboxyl group are attached. The remaining two bonds of the Î±-carbon atom are generally satisfied by a hydrogen (H) atom and the R group.
Alpha amino acids have the -COOH and -NH2 groups both attached to the same carbon atom, called the alpha carbon atom. The simplest amino acid, which is the molecule glycine, H2NCH2COOH, contains no asymmetric carbon atoms (tetrahedral carbon atoms with four different groups attached). All of the other amino acids do contain such a carbon atom and are therefore optically active.