s-news
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Related to Poisson

To: "Daniel Murphy" <chiefmurphy@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Related to Poisson
From: "Overstreet, Jason" <joverstreet@hotwater.com>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 13:23:34 -0500
Cc: "Robert A LaBudde" <ral@lcfltd.com>, "Jewel Bright" <jwlbright@yahoo.com>, <s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu>
In-reply-to: <48f8cced0905121013ke6a1b11l683729459357783e@mail.gmail.com>
References: <943894.90491.qm@web37901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <0KJJ00A8NI83OL45@vms173003.mailsrvcs.net> <48f8cced0905120953u1402d725ne68fa253edc25a0b@mail.gmail.com> <4C3F83711A2CC141895AB4700A3338C01949B1@wpcmail.hotwater.aosmith.org> <48f8cced0905121013ke6a1b11l683729459357783e@mail.gmail.com>
Thread-index: AcnTJLj+x5Rpu9DtTseeX4b2Lm68twACFxrA
Thread-topic: [S] Related to Poisson

I know and understand the differences between continuous and discrete distributions…I was hinting at a Poisson processes and inter-arrival times being exponential and that relationship to the Erlang.  Just some of the material that I have been knee-deep as of late.  Sorry about any confusion (glad I didn’t go with my first inclination to mention Gamma distributions too).  J

 

Here are a couple of googled links that describe this relationship…

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlang_distribution

 

http://galprop.stanford.edu/elibrary/icrc/2003/proceedings/FILES/PDF/54.pdf

 

 

Jason Overstreet

Statistician

ASQ: CRE, CQE

 

A.O. Smith

106 Adkisson Street

Ashland City, TN 37015

Office: (615) 792-6253

Cell: (615) 495-6144

Fax: (615) 792-2121

Email: joverstreet@hotwater.com

 

 

 

From: Daniel Murphy [mailto:chiefmurphy@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 12:14 PM
To: Overstreet, Jason
Cc: Robert A LaBudde; Jewel Bright; s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu
Subject: Re: [S] Related to Poisson

 

Exponential and erlang are continuous distributions. Since A is a fixed scalar, Jewel described a discrete, countable distribution with mass amounts at 0, A, 2A, 3A, etc. equal to the probabilities of a poisson rv at 0, 1, 2, etc.

On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 10:06 AM, Overstreet, Jason <joverstreet@hotwater.com> wrote:

I smell some exponential and Erlang distributions lurking here….

 

 

 

From: s-news-owner@lists.biostat.wustl.edu [mailto:s-news-owner@lists.biostat.wustl.edu] On Behalf Of Daniel Murphy
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 11:54 AM
To: Robert A LaBudde
Cc: Jewel Bright; s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu


Subject: Re: [S] Related to Poisson

 

It is the scale factor that causes the probability distribution of X to not be Pois(lambda). The calculation is trivial. But I believe the original poster was searching for a name, and "Poisson", in the strictest sense, is not it.

On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 9:38 AM, Robert A LaBudde <ral@lcfltd.com> wrote:

Suppose X = A*N, where A is a scalar constant and N ~ Pois(lambda).

Then P[X = x] = P[N = x/A] ~ Pois(lambda).

I.e., X has the same probability mass distribution as N, except for a scale factor of A on the assumed values.

I think you are thinking this problem is complex, when, in fact, it is trivial.



At 07:41 AM 5/12/2009, Jewel Bright wrote:

Folks:

I have a seemingly simple question, but cannot resolve it (at least without much of thinking and digging.

Suppose that "n" is a Poisson random variable drawn from the distribution with Poisson lambda "lambda". What is the distribution of the random variable A*n, where A is an arbitrary real number?

Please, note, I am not asking how to generate this random variable, I still remember how to multiply a set of numbers by a constant. I am asking about analytical form of this distribution, and about how to derive the distribution function (or density) in their analytical form.

A standard approach through the characteristic functions did not bring immediate success. I am sure there there are a lot of smart people in the list who would consider this problem very simple. Please, help.

Thanks in advance.

Jewel

 

================================================================
Robert A. LaBudde, PhD, PAS, Dpl. ACAFS  e-mail: ral@lcfltd.com
Least Cost Formulations, Ltd.            URL: http://lcfltd.com/
824 Timberlake Drive                     Tel: 757-467-0954
Virginia Beach, VA 23464-3239            Fax: 757-467-2947

"Vere scire est per causas scire"
================================================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was distributed by s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu.  To
unsubscribe send e-mail to s-news-request@lists.biostat.wustl.edu with
the BODY of the message:  unsubscribe s-news

 

 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>