Question: Deaths from Horse Kicks

A classic example of the Poisson distribution involves the number of deaths caused by horse kicks of men in the Prussian Army between 1875 and 1894. Data for 14 corps were combined for the 20 year period, and the 280 corps-years included a total of 196 deaths. After finding the mean number of deaths per corps-year, find the probability that a randomly selected corps-year has the following numbers of deaths:

a.) 0 b.)1 c.) 2 d.)3 e.)4

The actual results consisted of these frequencies: 0 deaths (in 144 corps-years); 1 death (in 91 corps-years); 2 deaths (in 32 corps-years); 3 deaths (in 11 corps-years); 4 deaths (in 2 corps-years). Compare the actual results to those expected from the Poisson probabilities. Does the Poisson distribution serve as a good device for predicting the actual results?