Chapter 15.4, Problem 12SE

Excel was asked to generate 50 Poisson random numbers with mean λ = 5. (a) Calculate the sample mean. How close is it to the desired value? (b) Calculate the expected frequencies assuming a Poisson distribution with λ = 5. Show your calculations in a spreadsheet format. (c) Carry out the chi-square test at α = .05, combining end categories as needed to ensure that all expected frequencies are at least five. Show your degrees of freedom calculation. (d) Do you think your calculations would have been materially different if you had used the sample mean instead of λ = 5.0? Explain.