ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Probabilistic automaton

Okay, so do you know what a machine is? It's like your toys that can do things when you press buttons or pull levers, right?

Well, a probabilistic automaton is a machine that can do things based on chances. Imagine if your toy had a spinner on it and every time you pressed a button, the spinner spun and showed a different picture. The machine would then do something based on what picture showed up.

That's what a probabilistic automaton does. It has different states it can be in, and based on chances, it can move from one state to another. Just like how the spinner on your toy might have more red pictures than blue, the chances of moving to certain states might be higher than others.

This helps the machine make decisions or predict things based on probabilities. For example, a weather app might use a probabilistic automaton to predict whether it will rain or not. It might consider things like how often it has rained on similar days in the past or the current humidity levels to determine the chances of rain.

So, in summary, a probabilistic automaton is a machine that makes decisions based on chances and helps us predict things. It's like a toy with a spinner that decides what to do next based on what picture shows up.