4.6 Poisson distribution  (Page 4/18)

References

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Lenhart, Amanda. “Teens, Smartphones&Testing: Texting volum is up while the frequency of voice calling is down. About one in four teens say they own smartphones,” Pew Internet, 2012. Available online at http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Teens_Smartphones_and_Texting.pdf (accessed May 15, 2013).

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Chapter review

A Poisson probability distribution of a discrete random variable gives the probability of a number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space, if these events happen at a known average rate and independently of the time since the last event. The Poisson distribution may be used to approximate the binomial, if the probability of success is "small" (less than or equal to 0.05) and the number of trials is "large" (greater than or equal to 20).

Formula review

X ~ P ( μ ) means that X has a Poisson probability distribution where X = the number of occurrences in the interval of interest.

X takes on the values x = 0, 1, 2, 3, ...

The mean μ is typically given.

The variance is σ ² = μ , and the standard deviation is
$\sigma \text{ = }\sqrt{\mu }$ .

When P ( μ ) is used to approximate a binomial distribution, μ = np where n represents the number of independent trials and p represents the probability of success in a single trial.

Use the following information to answer the next six exercises: On average, a clothing store gets 120 customers per day.

Use the following information to answer the next six exercises: On average, eight teens in the U.S. die from motor vehicle injuries per day. As a result, states across the country are debating raising the driving age.