ABSTRACT
Examples of real-world phenomena that can be modeled as Poisson processes involve discrete events that are counted over some time period of interest. This chapter presents examples in which the number of arrivals during the observation period is assumed to be independent of the number of arrivals prior to the observation period. It discusses theoretical conditions for a Poisson distribution to arise naturally in a real physical process and the applications of the Poisson process to the environmental problems. The Poisson model can be used as an approximation to the binomial model in certain cases, providing almost the same results but with a single-parameter rather than a two-parameter model. The chapter also includes exercise problems related to Poisson process.
