Parametric Markov chains have been introduced as model for families of stochastic systems with the same topological structure, but that may differ in the transition probabilities. The talk provides an overview of techniques for computing rational functions as closed-form expressions for reachability probabilities or expected costs and complexity-theoretic results for checking the existence of a parameter valuation such that the induced Markov chains satisfies a PCTL formula. The last part of the talk provides insights in application scenarios of the parametric approach.

Christel Baier is a full professor and head of the chair for Algebraic and Logic Foundations of Computer Science at the Faculty of Computer Science of the Technische Universität Dresden since 2006. From the University of Mannheim she received her Diploma in Mathematics in 1990, her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1994 and her Habilitation in 1999. She was an associate professor for Theoretical Computer Science at the University of Bonn from 1999 to 2006. She is an elected member of the DFG review board for computer science for the periods 2012-2016 and 2016-2020. Since 2011 she is a member of Academia Europa. Since 2015 she is editor-in-chief for the journal Acta Informatica.