April 2026
Beginner
288 pages
5h 34m
English
Content preview from Probability Workbook For Dummies
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Chapter 13
Working with the Poisson (a Nonpoisonous) Distribution
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the characteristics of the Poisson distribution
Calculating probabilities, the mean, variance, and standard deviation
Changing units and working with the Poisson process
Approximating the Poisson with the normal distribution
The Poisson distribution, pronounced “pwa-san” is an interesting distribution with lots of uses. In this chapter, you explore the characteristics of the Poisson distribution, and the mean, standard deviation, variance, and probabilities for it. You see what happens when you change the units of a Poisson distribution, and how the normal distribution can approximate the Poisson distribution in large cases.
Identifying a Poisson Distribution from a Binomial Distribution
The binomial distribution (discussed in Chapter 8) has a fixed number of n trials, and for each trial, it has two possible outcomes: yes and no (or success and failure). The binomial counts the number of yeses among those fixed trials, X, and the values of X go from , n. A Poisson distribution involves ...
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