Business Statistics

Chapter 6 | Discrete Probability Distributions 205

Figure 6.17

MS Excel worksheet showing

calculation of Poisson

probabilities for Example 6.3

and 6.4

6.5.3 Mean and Variance of a Poisson Probability Distribution

The mean or expected value of the Poisson distribution is given by l. This indicates that for a Poisson

distribution over a long period of time, a long-run average can be determined. The variance of the

Poisson distribution is also

l and the standard deviation is given by

λ

.

6.5.4 Graphical Presentation of the Poisson Probability Distribution

The Poisson distribution graph can be constructed with the probabilities on the y axis and ...