The usual derivation of the Fokker-Planck partial differential eqn. (pde) assumes the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation for a Markov process [1,2]. Starting instead with an Ito stochastic differential equation (sde), we argue that finitely many states of memory are allowed in Kolmogorov’s two pdes,...

We show that Ito processes imply the Fokker-Planck (K2) and Kolmogorov backward time (K1) partial differential eqns. (pde) for transition densities, which in turn imply the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation without approximations. This result is not restricted to Markov processes. We define ‘finite...