Which of these is best described by a Poisson distribution?

The number of heads in 10 tosses of a coinCorrect answerYour answerThe heights of the students of a large schoolCorrect answerYour answerThe number of red balls in 3 draws without replacementCorrect answerYour answerThe number of typing errors on a page of a long bookCorrect answerYour answer

Show the answer and explanation

CorrectNot quiteAnswer D

Correct answer: D

A Poisson variable counts rare events that happen independently in a fixed stretch of time or space, with no fixed upper limit.
Typing errors on a page fit this. Ten tosses are binomial, heights are continuous, and draws without replacement are not independent.

Worth noting

Heads in 10 tosses is a count too, but of a fixed number of trials with a large chance each: that is binomial.

Concept: When the Poisson distribution applies
Typical timeTypical: 90 s
Your timeYours: —

The rule this testsThe Poisson distribution

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Ten questions from Binomial & Poisson Distributions, at your own pace.

Which of these is best described by a Poisson distribution?

Explanation