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Last increasing step of a Poisson pmf

Question

Suppose XX is Poisson with mean 13.413.4. Among values kk in the support of XX, find the biggest one for which P[X=k]≥P[X=k−1]\mathbb{P}[X=k]\ge \mathbb{P}[X=k-1].

Short answer

1313. The ratio of consecutive Poisson probabilities is P[X=k]/P[X=k−1]=λ/k\mathbb{P}[X=k]/\mathbb{P}[X=k-1]=\lambda/k, which is at least 11 exactly when k≤λk\le\lambda. The largest such integer is ⌊13.4⌋=13\lfloor 13.4\rfloor=13.

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