Poisson distribution

American  

[pwah-sohn, pwa-sawn] / pwɑˈsoʊn, pwaˈsɔ̃ /

noun

Statistics.

1. a limiting form of the binomial probability distribution for small values of the probability of success and for large numbers of trials: particularly useful in industrial quality-control work and in radiation and bacteriological problems.

---

Poisson distribution British  

/ ˈpwɑːsən /

noun

1. statistics a distribution that represents the number of events occurring randomly in a fixed time at an average rate λ ; symbol P 0 ( λ ). For large n and small p with np = λ it approximates to the binomial distribution Bi ( n,p )

---

Poisson distribution Scientific  

/ pwä-sôn′ /

1. A probability distribution which arises when counting the number of occurrences of a rare event in a long series of trials. It is named after its discoverer, French mathematician and physicist Siméon Denis Poisson (1781–1840).

---

Etymology

Origin of Poisson distribution

1920–25; named after S. D. Poisson (1781–1840), French mathematician and physicist

Example Sentences

In order to use the Poisson distribution, certain assumptions must hold.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

Other rules of thumb are also suggested by different authors, but all recognize that the Poisson distribution is the limiting distribution of the binomial as n increases and p approaches zero.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

We saw that the number of occurrences of an event in a given time interval, x, follows the Poisson distribution.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

We may then deduce that the total number of calls received during a time period has the Poisson distribution.

From Textbooks • Sep. 19, 2013

Such foraging behavior would result in random capture of ants, and it is noteworthy that the frequency distribution of ants in stomachs suggests a Poisson distribution, a mathematical description of one kind of random distribution.

From Natural History of the Salamander, Aneides hardii by Johnston, Richard F.