Biostatistics

Chapter 10

Discrete Probability Distribution [Binomial and Poisson Distributions]

Objectives

After completing this chapter, you can understand the following:

• The definition, meaning and significance of discrete probability distributions.
• The concept of binomial and Poisson distributions.
• The derivations of mean and standard deviation [SD] of the binomial and Poisson distributions.
• The applications of binomial and Poisson distributions related to the biological decision making situations.

10.1 INTRODUCTION

We can define a probability distribution as the relative frequency distribution that should theoretically occur for observations from a given populations. In business and other contexts, it can be helpful to proceed from the following: ...