The Mark–Houwink equation, also known as the Mark–Houwink–Sakurada equation or the Kuhn–Mark–Houwink–Sakurada equation or the Landau-Kuhn-Mark-Houwink-Sakurada equation gives a relation between intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight :
From this equation the molecular weight of a polymer can be determined from data on the intrinsic viscosity and vice versa.
The values of the Mark–Houwink parameters, and , depend on the particular polymer-solvent system. For solvents, a value of is indicative of a theta solvent. A value of is typical for good solvents. For most flexible polymers, . For semi-flexible polymers, . For polymers with an absolute rigid rod, such as Tobacco mosaic virus, .