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Stats 3 L 3
Stats 3 L 3
> table(xsim)
xsim
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1 3 2 7 10 21 40 57 72 80 82 118 118
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
85 83 61 55 46 25 14 9 6 2 1 1 1
>
A Histogram can also be plotted of this:
> hist(xsim)
Notice that a BARPLOT of xsim does
NOT produce a useful graph!
> barplot(xsim)
A barplot of the TABLE of xsim does
work,though.
> barplot(table(xsim))
Poisson Distribution
The Poisson distribution is used to model the
number of events occurring within a given time
interval. The formula for the Poisson
probability density (mass) function is
x
e
p( x )
x!
is the shape parameter which indicates the
average number of events in the given time
interval.
Some events are rather rare - they don't
happen that often. For instance, car
accidents are the exception rather than the
rule. Still, over a period of time, we can say
something about the nature of rare events.
> ppois(2,4.5)
[1] 0.1735781
>
Consider a collection of graphs for
different values of
=3
=4
=5
=6
=10
In the last case, the probability of 20
arrivals is no longer negligible, so
values up to, say, 30 would have to be
considered.
Properties of Poisson
The mean and variance are both equal to .
The sum of independent Poisson variables
is a further Poisson variable with mean
equal to the sum of the individual means.
As well as cropping up in the situations
already mentioned, the Poisson distribution
provides an approximation for the Binomial
distribution.
Approximation: