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.

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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 )

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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).

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Etymology

Origin of Poisson distribution

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

Example Sentences

Again with the Poisson distribution in Chapter 4, the graph in Example 4.14 used boxes to represent the probability of specific values of the random variable.

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

The binomial distribution approaches the Poisson distribution is as n gets larger and p is small such that np becomes a constant value.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

Classic Poisson distribution questions are "how many people will arrive at my checkout window in the next hour?"

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

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.