Lecture 3 - Ch 5 - Poisson Distribution

The Poisson Distribution is derived from the binomial distribution and describes probabilities of success within a certain "area of opportunity". The area of opportunity could be a time interval, surface area, etc.

For a scenario which follows a Poisson Distribution, the probability of a x success events occuring in an area of opportunity is:where:
lambda = the average (mean) number success events which occur in that area of opportunity

The mean of a Poisson Distribution is lambda.
The standard deviation of a Poisson Distribution is SQRT(lamba).