# Markov Property > The **Markov Property** simply means that the *future* is *independent* of the *past* given the *present*. Stated mathematically: $P(X_n = x_n \mid X_{n-1} = x_{n-1}, \dots, X_{0} = x_{0}) = P(X_n = x_n \mid X_{n-1} = x_{n-1})$ This is a very important policy in a number of areas, such as [Reinforcement Learning (old)](Reinforcement%20Learning%20(old).md), [Markov-Networks](Markov-Networks.md), Markov Models, and many stochastic processes. --- Date: 20211203 Links to: [003-Data-Science-MOC](003-Data-Science-MOC.md) [Mathematics MOC](Mathematics%20MOC.md) [Reinforcement-Learning-vs-Supervised-Learning](Reinforcement-Learning-vs-Supervised-Learning.md) Tags: References: * []()