(Note I am the OP) **Master equation** The master equation can be written as: $$\frac{\mathrm d p_n{\left(t\right)}}{\mathrm dt}=\sum_{n'}\left\{W_{nn'}p_{n'}{\left(t\right)}-W_{n'n}p_n{\left(t\right)}\right\}$$ Where $p_n$ denotes the probability that the system is in state $n$ at time $t$. And $W_{nn'}\Delta t$ denotes the probability of the system changing from state $n'$ to the state $n$ in the time interval $\Delta t$. **Specific case** Let us say we have $n=1$ free enzyme, then: $$ \frac{\mathrm dp_0{\left(t\right)}}{\mathrm dt}=W_{01}p_1{\left(t\right)}$$ So what is $W_{01}$? This is the probability that the one enzyme is used up, let us call this $\mu$. $$\frac{\mathrm dp_0{\left(t\right)}}{\mathrm dt}=\mu p_1{\left(t\right)}$$ The average number of 'free enzymes' is given by: $$\left\langle n \right\rangle=p_1{\left(t\right)}$$ Differentiating this gives: $$\frac{\mathrm d\left\langle n \right\rangle}{\mathrm dt}=\frac{\mathrm dp_1{\left(t\right)}}{\mathrm dt}$$ But in our case, $$ \frac{\mathrm dp_1{\left(t\right)}}{\mathrm dt}=-\mu p_1{\left(t\right)}$$ Thus $$\frac{\mathrm d\left\langle n \right\rangle}{\mathrm dt}=-\mu p_1{\left(t\right)}$$ $$\frac{\mathrm d\left\langle n \right\rangle}{\mathrm dt}=-\mu\left\langle n \right\rangle$$ From here with the assumption that $\mu\propto [\ce{S}]$ you can follow through my derivation on [Biology.SE][1] The reason for the assumption $\mu\propto [\ce{S}]$ can be explained by the fact that $\mu$ is related to the rate of the reaction, which increases (approximately) linearly with substrate concentration. If this assumption is not valid, please can you comment. **Sources** 1.'Stochastic processes in physics and chemistry' by N.G. Van Kampen chapter V 2. http://www.jpoffline.com/physics_docs/y4s7/advstatmech_ln.pdf [1]: https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/38576/dwell-time-equations-for-atp-sythase?noredirect=1