The aim of" the present monograph is two-fold: (a) to give a short
account of the main results concerning the theory of random systems with
complete connections, and (b) to describe the general learning model by
means of random systems with complete connections. The notion of chain
with complete connections has been introduced in probability theory by
ONICESCU and MIHOC (1935a). These authors have set themselves the aim to
define a very broad type of dependence which takes into account the
whole history of the evolution and thus includes as a special case the
Markovian one. In a sequel of papers of the period 1935-1937, ONICESCU
and MIHOC developed the theory of these chains for the homogeneous case
with a finite set of states from differ- ent points of view: ergodic
behaviour, associated chain, limit laws. These results led to a chapter
devoted to these chains, inserted by ONI- CESCU and MIHOC in their
monograph published in 1937. Important contributions to the theory of
chains with complete connections are due to DOEBLIN and FORTET and refer
to the period 1937-1940. They consist in the approach of chains with an
infinite history (the so-called chains of infinite order) and in the use
of methods from functional analysis.