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Markov Chains and Ranking Problems in Web Search

Encyclopedia of Systems and Control
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Abstract

Markov chains refer to stochastic processes whose states change according to transition probabilities determined only by the states of the previous time step. They have been crucial for modeling large-scale systems with random behavior in various fields such as control, communications, biology, optimization, and economics. In this entry, we focus on their recent application to the area of search engines, namely, the PageRank algorithm employed at Google, which provides a measure of importance for each page in the web. We present several researches carried out with control theoretic tools such as aggregation, distributed randomized algorithms, and PageRank optimization. Due to the large size of the web, computational issues are the underlying motivation of these studies.

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Correspondence to Hideaki Ishii .

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Ishii, H., Tempo, R. (2013). Markov Chains and Ranking Problems in Web Search. In: Baillieul, J., Samad, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Systems and Control. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_135-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_135-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-5102-9

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Markov Chains and Ranking Problems in Web Search
    Published:
    29 November 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_135-2

  2. Original

    Markov Chains and Ranking Problems in Web Search
    Published:
    12 February 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_135-1