The dynamics of many natural and artificial systems are well described as random walks on a network: the stochastic behaviour of molecules, traffic patterns on the internet, fluctuations in stock ...

Juggling competing demands in a network of feverishly calculating computers drawing on the same memory resources is like trying to avert collisions among blindfolded, randomly zigzagging ice skaters.

The random walk theorem, first presented by French mathematician Louis Bachelier in 1900 and then expanded upon by economist Burton Malkiel in his 1973 book A Random Walk Down Wall Street, asserts ...