Statistics interview question: What is the parameter of a Poisson distribution?
The Poisson distribution is one of the most popular distributions in statistics. In order to understand the Poisson distribution, it is first necessary to understand Poisson experiments.
Poisson experiments
Poisson experiments have the following properties:-
- The number of successes in the experiment can be counted.
- The mean number of successes that can be counted in a specific interval of time (or space) is known.
- Each outcome is independent.
- The probability that a success will occur is proportional to the size of the interval.
The probability experiment can answer questions concerning the probability of success.
The probability distribution describes the probability of obtaining k successes during a given time interval.
The Poisson distribution
The Poisson distribution was first introduced by French mathematician Simeon Denis Poisson, published together with his probability theory in 1837. The work theorised about the number of wrongful convictions in a given country by focusing on certain random variables N that count, among other things, the discrete occurrences that take place…
