Final answer:
To find the probability that more than eight patients arrive during a half-hour period, we can use the Poisson distribution. The probability is approximately 0.0311.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the probability that more than eight patients arrive during a half-hour period, we can use the Poisson distribution. The mean for the Poisson distribution is given as 30, which represents the average number of patients arriving in a half-hour period. We can calculate the probability using the formula P(X > 8) = 1 - P(X ≤ 8), where X is the number of patients.
Substituting the values, we have P(X > 8) = 1 - P(X ≤ 8) ≈ 0.0311. Therefore, the probability that more than eight patients arrive during a half-hour period is approximately 0.0311.