I did analyzed these counts (about 100 C/S) by poisson function and gaussian function and i observed that, nearly there is no difference between using of a gaussian and poisson functions.
Although, i know that: 1- gaussian function is used if the count rates are greater than 20 count 2- poisson function is used if the count rates are smaller than 20 count.
Use a Poisson distribution fo data analysis. Yes, Poisson is nearly Gaussian, but the distributions perform differently. Simple analysis makes no difference, but if you are developing derivative functions or predictions, Gaussian will not perform correctly.
Use of poisson distribution will be better and counts rather than count rate should be used for analysis with the distribution.
Also the correction due to change in count rate (if any) due to radioactive decay is there should be taken into account. This can be seen in appendix of book by G F Knoll.
@Deepak
Good catch. @Mahmoud said analyzed counts, but discussed count rates. One must be very careful with count rates. It is always better to do the analysis in counts. Many count rate formulas are incorrect or used incorrectly. The problem is combining count rates taken over different time periods.
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