Combining Poisson Distributions: Understanding Town Park Accidents
Explore how the number of accidents in two town parks is distributed using Poisson distribution. Find the total reported park accidents in the town by adding Poisson variables X and Y. Investigate if the total accidents follow a Poisson distribution with different parameters. Access the spreadsheet for hands-on practice with Poisson distributions. Written by Jonny Griffiths from making-statistics-vital.co.uk.
Combining Poisson Distributions: Understanding Town Park Accidents
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Presentation Transcript
www.making-statistics-vital.co.uk MSV 38: Adding Two Poissons
The number of serious accidents X in the first park over a year has been found to be distributed as Po(4).
The number of serious accidents Y in the second park over a year has been found to be distributed as Po(3).
Steve, a town planner, wonders, ‘How is the total number of reported park accidents in the town distributed?
Let’s find P(X + Y = 2), = P(X=0, Y=2) + P(X=1, Y=1) + P(X=2, Y=0) Let’s assume that X and Y are independent... = P(X=0)P(Y=2) + P(X=1)P(Y=1) + P(X=2)P(Y=0) , where Z ~ Po(7).
This leaves Steve wondering: ‘Is it the case that if X ~ Po(4) and Y ~ Po(3) and if X and Y are independent, then X + Y ~ Po(3 + 4) = Po(7)’? Can we prove this?
Happily, this works more generally still. If X ~ Po(l) and Y ~ Po(m), where X and Y are independent, then X + Y ~ Po(l + m). Is it reasonable for Steve to assume that the number of accidents in each park are independent? Adding Two Poissons spreadsheet http://www.s253053503.websitehome.co.uk/msv/msv-38/msv-38.xlsm (The spreadsheet is also on the MSV website, www.making-statistics-vital.co.uk Activity 38.)
With thanks to pixabay.com www.making-statistics-vital.co.uk is written by Jonny Griffiths hello@jonny-griffiths.net