# 4.6 Poisson distribution

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There are two main characteristics of a Poisson experiment.

1. The Poisson probability distribution gives the probability of a number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space if these events happen with a known average rate and independently of the time since the last event. For example, a book editor might be interested in the number of words spelled incorrectly in a particular book. It might be that, on the average, there are five words spelled incorrectly in 100 pages. The interval is the 100 pages.
2. The Poisson distribution may be used to approximate the binomial if the probability of success is "small" (such as 0.01) and the number of trials is "large" (such as 1,000). You will verify the relationship in the homework exercises. n is the number of trials, and p is the probability of a "success."

The random variable X = the number of occurrences in the interval of interest.

The average number of loaves of bread put on a shelf in a bakery in a half-hour period is 12. Of interest is the number of loaves of bread put on the shelf in five minutes. The time interval of interest is five minutes. What is the probability that the number of loaves, selected randomly, put on the shelf in five minutes is three?

Let X = the number of loaves of bread put on the shelf in five minutes. If the average number of loaves put on the shelf in 30 minutes (half-hour) is 12, then the average number of loaves put on the shelf in five minutes is $\left(\frac{5}{30}\right)$ (12) = 2 loaves of bread.

The probability question asks you to find P ( x = 3).

## Try it

The average number of fish caught in an hour is eight. Of interest is the number of fish caught in 15 minutes. The time interval of interest is 15 minutes. What is the average number of fish caught in 15 minutes?

$\left(\frac{15}{60}\right)$ (8) = 2 fish

A bank expects to receive six bad checks per day, on average. What is the probability of the bank getting fewer than five bad checks on any given day? Of interest is the number of checks the bank receives in one day, so the time interval of interest is one day. Let X = the number of bad checks the bank receives in one day. If the bank expects to receive six bad checks per day then the average is six checks per day. Write a mathematical statement for the probability question.

P ( x <5)

## Try it

An electronics store expects to have ten returns per day on average. The manager wants to know the probability of the store getting fewer than eight returns on any given day. State the probability question mathematically.

P ( x <8)

You notice that a news reporter says "uh," on average, two times per broadcast. What is the probability that the news reporter says "uh" more than two times per broadcast.

This is a Poisson problem because you are interested in knowing the number of times the news reporter says "uh" during a broadcast.

a. What is the interval of interest?

b. What is the average number of times the news reporter says "uh" during one broadcast?

b. 2

c. Let X = ____________. What values does X take on?

c. Let X = the number of times the news reporter says "uh" during one broadcast.
x = 0, 1, 2, 3, ...

d. The probability question is P (______).

d. P ( x >2)

#### Questions & Answers

method of collection of data
problems of find mean and standard deviation with drawing curve
describe the methods of calculation of sample
what are the various uses of statistics in education
Survey, Public allocation of federal funds, business analysis and consumer data, the lotto, government programs and special services.
Willard
probability sampling
dicuss probability sampling
Rosy
given that a sample is normally distributed with M=10 sd=8 determine
Rosy
disscuss probability sampling
Rosy
Discuss probability sampling
Rosy
What is mean
Rosy
Probability sampling is based on the fact that every member of a population has a known and equal chance of being selected. For example, if you had a population of 100 people, each person would have odds of 1 out of 100 of being chosen. With non-probability sampling, those odds are not equal.
Willard
The Arithmetic Mean is the average of the numbers: a calculated "central" value of a set of numbers.  To calculate it:  • add up all the numbers, • then divide by how many numbers there are. Example: what is the mean of 2, 7 and 9? Add the numbers: 2 + 7 + 9 = 18 Divide by how many numbers, 3 you
Willard
get 6
Willard
guidelines of designing a table
you can find that information on this website there is a lot of information. It's about interpreting what the concept of information & data you are getting from the graph and understanding how to read the graph and analyze the information. ***understandinggraphics.com/design/data-table-design/
Willard
find X and Y so that the ordered data set has a mean of 38 and median of 35 17, 22, 26, 29, 34, X, 42, 67 , 70, Y
Mohamed
Frequency find questions
?
Rosy
What is nominal variable
Write short notes on, nominal variable, ordinal variable, internal variable, ratio variable.
olusola
P( /x-50/ less than or equal to 5 ) where mean =52 and Variance =25
how I get the mcq
please what is data mining
the exploration and analysis of large data to discover meaningful patterns and rules
Hussein
how do we calculate the median
f(x)=cx(1-x)^4 as x range 4rm 0<=x<=1. Can someone pls help me find d constant C. By integration only..
uses of statistics in Local Government
Hi
Tamuno
hello
Saleema
state road transport corporation
Atul
District statistical officer
Atul
statistical services
Atul
Please is this part of the IMT program
Tamuno
testing of drugs
Shambhavi
hii 2
Qamar-ul-
How about population census
Tamuno
Hello every one
Okoi
sample survey is done by local government in each and every field.
syeda
statistics is used in almost every government organisations such as health department, economic department, census, weather forecasting fields
raghavendra
that's true
syeda
statistics is one of the tool that represents the falling and rising of any cases in one sheet either that is in population census whether forecast as well as economic growth
statistic is a technique, and statistics is a subject
syeda
what is business statistics
Probability tells you the likelihood of an event happening. ... The higher the probability, the more likely it is to happen. Probability is a number or fraction between 0 and 1. A probability of 1 means something will always happen, and a probability of 0 means something will never happen...
Saying it's a number between zero and one means it is a fraction so you could remove "or fraction" from you definition.
Carlos
wouldn't be correct to remove fractions, saying a number is justified as probabilities can also be decimals between 0 and 1.
Denzel
Saying "a number" will include it being a decimal which are themselves fractions in another form.
Carlos
I will simply say a probability is a number in the range zero to one, inclusive.
Carlos
f#\$
Carlos
How to delete an entry? This last one was a pocket print.
Carlos