AbstractsMathematics

The reader of modern statistical literature will, in many areas of science, frequently come across a random variable that is said to have a "Poisson distribution"; or the random variable may be described as one that obeys the "Poisson Law". Before commencing a study of the properties and structure of the Poisson distribution, it will be interesting and instructive to examine some of the early literature on the subject. By the year 1914 many writers had independently discovered the probability distribution. However, the name by which it is now known is, properly, that of the initial discoverer.