The document discusses hidden Markov models (HMM) and their application. It begins with an introduction to HMM and covers three key algorithms: model evaluation, most probable path decoding, and model training. Successful applications of HMM include handwriting recognition, speech recognition, and gene sequence analysis. The document then provides details on Markov models as the basis for HMM, including state transition probabilities, sequence probabilities, and efficient algorithms for calculating state probabilities over time.