Statistics Lectures - 12: Poisson Distribution

Related Pages
10: Discrete & Continuous Random Variable
11: Law Of Large Numbers & Binomial Distribution
13: Scatter Plots & Pearson’s r Correlation
14: Linear Regression & Spearman Correlation
Jump to Table of Contents

Statistics - Lecture 34: Poisson Distribution/Process

The Poisson probability distribution is used when computing the probability of a certain number of successes within a specified interval.
An experiment follows the Poisson process if it:

1. The probability of two successes in a small enough interval is 0%.
2. The probability of a success is the same for any two intervals which share the same length.
3. Successes are independent of successes in other intervals.

Example:
At a theme park, there is a roller coaster that sends an average of three cars through its circuit every minute between 6pm and 7pm. A random variable, X, represents the number of roller coaster cars to pass through the circuit between 6pm and 6:10pm.
Is this a Poisson random variable?
What is the probability that 35 cars will pass through the circuit between 6pm and 6:10pm?

Statistics - Lecture 35: Mean and Standard Deviation of Poisson Random Variables

Statistics Lecture Series - Table Of Contents

• Descriptive Statistics
• Probability
• Correlation
• Inferential Statistics

Try the free Mathway calculator and problem solver below to practice various math topics. Try the given examples, or type in your own problem and check your answer with the step-by-step explanations.

We welcome your feedback, comments and questions about this site or page. Please submit your feedback or enquiries via our Feedback page.