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Which two characteristics define a Poisson experiment?
AA fixed number of trials, each with two possible outcomes
BEvents occur in a fixed interval at a known, independent average rate
CTrials repeat until the first success is reached
DTwo groups are sampled together without replacement
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Events occur in a fixed interval at a known, independent average rate
1. A Poisson experiment counts events that occur in a fixed interval of time or space.
2. Those events must happen with a known average rate and independently of the time since the last event.
3. Option B captures both of these characteristics.
4. Options A, C, and D describe the binomial, geometric, and hypergeometric experiments respectively, not the Poisson case.
_Source: OpenStax Introductory Statistics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 4 "Discrete Random Variables", section 4.6 Poisson Distribution_
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