Fitting Poisson Distribution to Data: Need Help!

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on fitting a Poisson distribution to a dataset representing counts of radioactive decay recorded 500 times. The user calculated the mean and variance to be 67.1 but encountered errors when applying this value in the Poisson formula. The correct approach involves calculating the mean using the formula (39x0 + 106x1 + 130x2 + ... + 1x9)/500, which yields a mean of approximately 2. The user seeks clarification on the calculation and application of the Poisson distribution.

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timmyc
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I need to fit a Poisson distribution to this set of data (no. of counts of radioactive decay)

The number of counts in a fixed time interval was recorded 500 times.

With the number of counts going from 0 - 9 respectively

39
106
130
100
67
34
15
7
1
1

I understand how to use the formula in simple probability situations but am a little stuck with this one.

I know the mean = the variance and worked that out to be 67.1 but when using this in the formlua I calculated explodes (shows math error).

Can someone help me please?
 
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How did you get 67.1? Off hand (without doing the arithmetic) the mean looks like it should be around 2+.

(39x0 + 106x1 + 130x2 + ... + 1x9)/500
 

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