The number of traffic accidents that occur on a particular stretch of road during a month follows a Poisson distribution with a mean of 7.6. Find the probability that less than three accidents on this stretch of road next month.

Question

mathmate · Answer

lambda=7.6
P(X<3)=P(X=0)+P(X=1)+P(X=2)

For the poisson distribution, 
P(X=x)=e^(-lambda)*lambda^(x)/x!
or you can look up tables for lambda=7.6 and x=0,1,2 respectively (0.0005, 0.0038, 0.0145)