Chinese restaurant process

noun

A discrete-time stochastic process, analogous to seating customers at tables in a restaurant, such that, at time n, the n customers have been partitioned among m ≤ n tables (or blocks of a partition). It has applications in population genetics, linguistic analysis, and image recognition.

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Meanings

nounChinese restaurant process (plural Chinese restaurant processes)

plural Chinese restaurant processes

  1. mathematicsA discrete-time stochastic process, analogous to seating customers at tables in a restaurant, such that, at time n, the n customers have been partitioned among m ≤ n tables (or blocks of a partition). It has applications in population genetics, linguistic analysis, and image recognition.

Origin

The restaurant analogy first appeared in a 1985 write-up by David Aldous, where it was attributed to Jim Pitman (who additionally credits Lester Dubins).

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Cite this entry
APA

Chinese restaurant process. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chinese%20restaurant%20process

MLA

“Chinese restaurant process.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chinese%20restaurant%20process. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Chinese restaurant process,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chinese%20restaurant%20process.

Source: Chinese restaurant process on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.