Contagious Distributions
Abstract
Polya proposed a model for the spread of an infection, whereby the probability of catching a disease depended on the existing number of cases. This leads to a distribution that has a limiting negative binomial form. Neyman proposed an alternative approach that arises from a Poisson distribution of clumps, with the number of cells for each clump being Poisson. This article surveys probability distributions and corresponding generating functions that result from such constructions.