It is assumed that either the means of several Poisson, or the parameters of several binomial populations are linear functions of a regressor variable such as time. If samples from the different populations are given at several values of the regressor variable, the maximum likelihood solution exists for a reasonable set of hypotheses. It can be found by a necessarily converging, iterative procedure of successively solving single equations. Two examples are given, one dealing with suicide numbers in the different districts of Vienna over the years 1966-1974 and one with proportions of stillbirths among all births in different areas of Austria during the years 1951-1960; on the basis of these data three different solution algorithms are compared.
Abstract