In probability theory, a Poisson process is a stochastic process which counts the number of events and the time that these events occur in a given time interval. The time between each pair of consecutive events has an exponential distribution with parameter λ and each of these inter-arrival times is assumed to be independent of other inter-arrival times. The process is named after the French mathematician Siméon-Denis Poisson and is a good model of radioactive decay, telephone calls and requests for a particular document on a web server, among many other phenomena.
The Poisson process is a continuous-time process; the sum of a Bernoulli process can be thought of as its discrete-time counterpart. A Poisson process is a pure-birth process, the simplest example of a birth-death process. It is also a point process on the real half-line.
Read more about Poisson Process: Definition, Characterisation, Properties, Applications, Occurrence
Famous quotes containing the word process:
“A designer who is not also a couturier, who hasnt learned the most refined mysteries of physically creating his models, is like a sculptor who gives his drawings to another man, an artisan, to accomplish. For him the truncated process of creating will always be an interrupted act of love, and his style will bear the shame of it, the impoverishment.”
—Yves Saint Laurent (b. 1936)