Poisson random process problem

In summary, the conversation is discussing a multi-part problem involving Poisson, Exponential, and Erlang distributions. The participants share their reasoning and attempt to find the correct answers, with some discrepancies and corrections along the way. One person suggests a clever approach using independent Poisson random variables.
  • #1
ashah99
60
2
Homework Statement
Please see below for homework statement
Relevant Equations
Please see below for useful equations
Hello all, sorry for the large wall of text but I'm really trying to understanding a problem from a study guide. I am quite unsure on how to approach the following multi-part problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Problem:
1666826630795.png


Useful references I'm using to attempt the problem
1666826660061.png

1666826667141.png

My attempt:
For part (a), my reasoning is the following, and if anyone can kindly check on these answers, that would be great.

(i) Poisson(5), since this describes the number of arrivals (hits) in a window, so the RV should be Poisson(lambda*T), where λ = 1 photon/us and T is 5 us duration, thus Poisson(5)
(ii) Poisson(2), Z is the number of events in [5,7], so this is Poisson(7-5) = Poisson(2)
(III) Exp(1), since waiting times of a Poisson process are i.i.d. Exponential with parameter λ = 1
(iv) Erlang(1,2) since this is the waiting time for the kth arrival

Based off the info above, then for parts (b) and (c) I get the following:
1666826762191.png
 
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  • #2
(i) is just a distribution that says if X is nonzero, it's not asking for the number of hits.

For (ii), what does that parameter (2) mean?
You should think about this more carefully.

I didn't check the rest.
 
  • #3
Office_Shredder said:
(i) is just a distribution that says if X is nonzero, it's not asking for the number of hits.

For (ii), what does that parameter (2) mean?
You should think about this more carefully.

I didn't check the rest.
My mistake on (i)
X is either non-zero or it isn't. It's non-zero with probability p=1-e^(-5)
Thus it's Bernoulli with parameter p -> X is Bern( 1-e^(-5) ) should be the correct answer I hope

(ii) Z is the number of events in [5,7], since X and Y overlap by 5 us, so Z is Poisson(2)
 
  • #4
Sorry I misread the problem, your answer for (ii) is fine

(iii) is problematic, though I suspect your answer is correct. The expected value is 1 microsecond, and it never says as far as I can tell what unit of time the measurement is in (if it' in seconds, the answer is exp(100000))

(iv) ooks fine as well though Wikipedia at least things that k comes first in the two parameters.

For (b) I agree with your answer, but I think you should meditate on it a bit and understand how you can construct it without computing any square roots.

(C) looks wrong to me. First, there should be a Y in your formula, not a ##x##. More importantly though if ##Y=7## then your formula says the expected value for ##X## is 7 also, which seems impossible :)
 
  • #5
Office_Shredder said:
Sorry I misread the problem, your answer for (ii) is fine

(iii) is problematic, though I suspect your answer is correct. The expected value is 1 microsecond, and it never says as far as I can tell what unit of time the measurement is in (if it' in seconds, the answer is exp(100000))

(iv) ooks fine as well though Wikipedia at least things that k comes first in the two parameters.

For (b) I agree with your answer, but I think you should meditate on it a bit and understand how you can construct it without computing any square roots.

(C) looks wrong to me. First, there should be a Y in your formula, not a ##x##. More importantly though if ##Y=7## then your formula says the expected value for ##X## is 7 also, which seems impossible :)
Good point on part (iii) with the units. Hmm I would note down both for my studies
Part (c) is an error on my part due to copy/pasting. You are correct in that formula could contain a ##y##
I believe the formula should also say ##u_x## so if I make those corrections, I get a final answer of ##E(X |Y=y) = y - 2## I believe.

Would you agree here?
 
  • #6
I don't like that answer either. What if ##y=1##?
 
  • #7
Office_Shredder said:
I don't like that answer either. What if ##y=1##?
Hmm that would be problematic resulting in the expectation being negative. Do you a better approach?
 
  • #8
Can you try one more time to Carefully write down all the parameters you needed to compute your mmse?

If you want the clever way to do this, that really doesn't scale at all to any other example of this kind of problem (except conveniently gaussians because the sum of gaussian is also a gaussian)

Let ##X_1,X_2,...,X_7## be independent poisson(1) random variables. Then we can pretend ##X## is the sum of the first 5, and ##Y## is the sum of the first seven. Given that all seven of these identical distributions sum to ##Y##, what's your best guess for the sum of the first five?
 
  • #9
Office_Shredder said:
Can you try one more time to Carefully write down all the parameters you needed to compute your mmse?

If you want the clever way to do this, that really doesn't scale at all to any other example of this kind of problem (except conveniently gaussians because the sum of gaussian is also a gaussian)

Let ##X_1,X_2,...,X_7## be independent poisson(1) random variables. Then we can pretend ##X## is the sum of the first 5, and ##Y## is the sum of the first seven. Given that all seven of these identical distributions sum to ##Y##, what's your best guess for the sum of the first five?
The parameters I used were ##µ_X = 5, µ_Y = 7, σ_X = √5, σ_Y = √7, and ρ = √(5/7) ##
Using the formula above, I get
##E(X | Y = y) =µ_X +ρσ_X( (Y-µ_Y ) / √7) = 5 + √(5/7)√5 ( (y-7 ) /√7) ##
and then ## E(X | Y = y) = y - 2 ## but that turns out to be incorrect.
 
  • #10
You need to do your algebra more carefully.

##x=5+\frac{\sqrt{5}\sqrt{5}}{\sqrt{7}\sqrt{7}}(y-7)##
##x=5+\frac{5}{7}(y-7)##
##x=5+\frac{5}{7}y-5##
##x=\frac{5}{7}y##
 
  • #11
Office_Shredder said:
You need to do your algebra more carefully.

##x=5+\frac{\sqrt{5}\sqrt{5}}{\sqrt{7}\sqrt{7}}(y-7)##
##x=5+\frac{5}{7}(y-7)##
##x=5+\frac{5}{7}y-5##
##x=\frac{5}{7}y##
Thank you for your help. I realize the mistakes now. I had the formula wrong originally by using the mean of y in stead of mean of x hence had the extra factor of +2. So yes the answer now makes sense: when y=7, then x=5 which is expected.
 

FAQ: Poisson random process problem

What is a Poisson random process?

A Poisson random process is a statistical model used to describe the occurrence of events over a continuous time interval. It is based on the assumption that the events occur independently of each other and at a constant rate.

What are the key characteristics of a Poisson random process?

The key characteristics of a Poisson random process are its rate parameter, which represents the average number of events occurring per unit time, and its memorylessness property, which states that the probability of an event occurring in a given time interval is not affected by the timing of previous events.

How is a Poisson random process different from a Poisson distribution?

A Poisson random process is a continuous-time model, while a Poisson distribution is a discrete probability distribution. The Poisson distribution describes the probability of a certain number of events occurring in a fixed time interval, while the Poisson random process describes the occurrence of events over a continuous time interval.

What are some real-world applications of Poisson random processes?

Poisson random processes are commonly used to model the arrival of customers in a queue, the number of phone calls received by a call center, and the number of accidents occurring on a highway. They are also used in fields such as finance, biology, and physics to model various phenomena.

How is the Poisson random process calculated and analyzed?

The Poisson random process can be calculated and analyzed using various statistical methods, such as the Poisson distribution, the Poisson process, and the Poisson regression model. These methods involve determining the rate parameter, analyzing the distribution of events, and making predictions based on the model.

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