Poisson’s Distribution

1. The number of cars that arrive at a gas station is a Poisson random vari-
able with a mean of 50 cars per hour. The station has only one attendant,
and each car requires exactly one minute to fill up. If we define a waiting
line as the condition in which two or more cars are found at the same time
atthe gas station, what is the probability that a waiting line will occur at
the station?
2. The number of cars that arrive at a drive-in window of a certain bank over
a 20-minute period is a Poisson random variable with a mean of four cars.
What is the probability that more than three cars will arrive during any
20- minute period?
3. The number of traffic tickets that a certain traffic officer gives out on any
day has been shown to have a Poisson distribution with a mean of 7.
(a) What is the probability that on one particular day the officer gave
out no ticket?
(b) What is the probability that she gives out fewer than 4 tickets in one
day?
4. A Geiger counter counts the particles emitted by radioactive material. If
the number of particles emitted per second by a particular radioactive
material has a Poisson distribution with a mean of 10 particles, determine
the following:
(a) The probability of at most 3 particles in one second. no ticket?
(b) The probability of more than 1 particle in one second. day?
5. The number of phone calls that arrive at a secretary?s desk has a Poisson
distribution with a mean of 4 per hour.
(a) What is the probability that no phone calls arrive in a given hour?
(b) What is the probability that more than 2 calls arrive within a given
hour?
6. The number of typing mistakes that Ann makes on a given page has a
Poisson distribution with a mean of 3 mistakes.
(a) What is the probability that she makes exactly 7 mistakes on a given
page?
(b) What is the probability that she makes fewer than 4 mistakes on a
given page?
(c) What is the probability that Ann makes no mistake on a given page?