This is more of a practical writeup on state machines than a theoretical one: http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/state.html http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/

This is more of a practical writeup on state machines than a theoretical one: http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/state.html http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/state.html You might also know these as flowcharts when applied to program flow control. I don't think I answered the original question well. I just wanted to point out that math is more than just equations. Others have done a much better job in this thread.