Edexcel S2 2004 January — Question 4

Exam BoardEdexcel
ModuleS2 (Statistics 2)
Year2004
SessionJanuary
TopicApproximating the Binomial to the Poisson distribution
TypeState conditions for Poisson approximation

4. (a) Write down two conditions needed to be able to approximate the binomial distribution by the Poisson distribution. A researcher has suggested that 1 in 150 people is likely to catch a particular virus.
Assuming that a person catching the virus is independent of any other person catching it,
(b) find the probability that in a random sample of 12 people, exactly 2 of them catch the virus.
(c) Estimate the probability that in a random sample of 1200 people fewer than 7 catch the virus.