Independent Poisson Processes Word Problem

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a homework problem involving independent Poisson processes for two football teams, A and B, each with their own scoring rate (lambda parameters). The task is to calculate the probability of team B winning with a final score of 3-2 against team A, whose score is 2. The proposed solution involves calculating the individual probabilities of each team's scores using the Poisson probability mass function. The conclusion confirms that the approach is correct, assuming the independence of the scoring processes. This highlights the application of Poisson processes in calculating probabilities in sports statistics.
Ocifer
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
Hello, hopefully this is the right place. This is a homework question, so it should definitely be in this forum, but I wasn't sure which sub-forum to put this rather elementary stats question.

Homework Statement


In my introductory mathematical statistics class, we've been given the following word problem having to do with Poisson processes.

We are to consider a football game, where each team's score follows its own Poisson process. So there are two teams, team A and team B and, each team's final score has its own lambda parameter:

Team A scores \lambda_A goals per game.
Team B scores \lambda_B goals per game.

What is the probability of team B winning over team A, with a final score of 3-2.

Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution


My intuition (which I would like to confirm/have critiqued) is that since the processes are independent of each other I should find the following.

Let X_A be the final score of team A
Let X_B be the final score of team B

<br /> Pr(X_A = 2) = \lambda_A ^ 2 e^{- \lambda_A } / 2!<br />
<br /> Pr(X_B = 2) = \lambda_B ^ 3 e^{- \lambda_B } / 3!<br />

And then the probability that team B wins with a score of 3 to 2 is simply the product of the two probabilities above, namely:

<br /> Pr(X_A = 2 \cap X_B = 3) = Pr(X_A = 2) \cdot Pr(X_B = 3)<br />

Is this the correct approach?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Ocifer said:
Hello, hopefully this is the right place. This is a homework question, so it should definitely be in this forum, but I wasn't sure which sub-forum to put this rather elementary stats question.

Homework Statement


In my introductory mathematical statistics class, we've been given the following word problem having to do with Poisson processes.

We are to consider a football game, where each team's score follows its own Poisson process. So there are two teams, team A and team B and, each team's final score has its own lambda parameter:

Team A scores \lambda_A goals per game.
Team B scores \lambda_B goals per game.

What is the probability of team B winning over team A, with a final score of 3-2.

Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution


My intuition (which I would like to confirm/have critiqued) is that since the processes are independent of each other I should find the following.

Let X_A be the final score of team A
Let X_B be the final score of team B

<br /> Pr(X_A = 2) = \lambda_A ^ 2 e^{- \lambda_A } / 2!<br />
<br /> Pr(X_B = 2) = \lambda_B ^ 3 e^{- \lambda_B } / 3!<br />

And then the probability that team B wins with a score of 3 to 2 is simply the product of the two probabilities above, namely:

<br /> Pr(X_A = 2 \cap X_B = 3) = Pr(X_A = 2) \cdot Pr(X_B = 3)<br />

Is this the correct approach?

Yes, it is correct (given the rather unlikely scenario that the two scores are independent).

RGV
 
Back
Top