A professor receives, on average, 24.7 e-mails from students the day before the midterm exam. To compute the probability of receiving at least 10 e-mails on such a day, he will use what type of probability distribution?
A) binomial distribution
B) Poisson distribution
C) all of the above
D) none of the above

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scenario described fits a Poisson distribution, which is used to model the number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space, given a known average rate of occurrence. The binomial distribution, on the other hand, is used to model the number of successes in a fixed number of independent trials, each with the same probability of success. Therefore, it is not applicable in this case, since the number of e-mails received is not the result of a series of independent trials.

A Professor Receives, on Average, 24