Poisson distribution

(1.5 hours to learn)

Summary

The Poisson distribution is a discrete probability distribution for the counts of independent random events in a given time interval, e.g. babies born in a hospital in 1 month or lightening strikes in Mexico in 1 week. It is one of the most common discrete distributions used in virtually every scientific and financial field.

Context

This concept has the prerequisites:

Core resources (read/watch one of the following)

-Free-

Khan Academy: Probability and Statistics

-Paid-

Supplemental resources (the following are optional, but you may find them useful)

-Free-

Mathematical Monk: Probability Primer (2011)
Online videos on probability theory.
Wolfram MathWorld

See also

  • Poisson processes are a kind of stochastic process where counts of events within a set follow a Poisson distribution.
  • For large values of the scale parameter, the Poisson distribution is well approximated by a Gaussian distribution. This follows from the Central Limit Theorem .
  • The Poisson distribution is a member of the exponential family .