WorksheetFunction.Poisson_Dist Method

Returns the Poisson distribution. A common application of the Poisson distribution is predicting the number of events over a specific time, such as the number of cars arriving at a toll plaza in one minute.

Namespace:  Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel
Assembly:  Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel (in Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Function Poisson_Dist ( _
    Arg1 As Double, _
    Arg2 As Double, _
    Arg3 As Boolean _
) As Double
'Usage
Dim instance As WorksheetFunction
Dim Arg1 As Double
Dim Arg2 As Double
Dim Arg3 As Boolean
Dim returnValue As Double

returnValue = instance.Poisson_Dist(Arg1, _
    Arg2, Arg3)

double Poisson_Dist(
    double Arg1,
    double Arg2,
    bool Arg3
)

Parameters

• Arg1
  Type: System.Double

  X - The number of events.

• Arg2
  Type: System.Double

  Mean - The expected numeric value.

• Arg3
  Type: System.Boolean

  Cumulative - A logical value that determines the form of the probability distribution returned. If cumulative is true, Poisson_Dist returns the cumulative Poisson probability that the number of random events occurring will be between 0 (zero) and x inclusive; if false, it returns the Poisson probability mass function that the number of events occurring will be exactly x.

Return Value

Type: System.Double

Remarks

If x is not an integer, it is truncated.

If x or mean is nonnumeric, Poisson_Dist returns the #VALUE! error value.

If x < 0, Poisson_Dist returns the #NUM! error value.

If mean ≤ 0, Poisson_Dist returns the #NUM! error value.

Poisson_Dist is calculated as follows.

For cumulative = false:

Figure 1: Calcuation when cumulative is false

For cumulative = true:

Figure 2: Calcuation when cumulative is true

See Also

Reference

WorksheetFunction Interface

WorksheetFunction Members

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel Namespace