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F Test for
Variances

Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

One-Tailed Test
Hypotheses
H 0 :  12   22
H a :  12   22

Test Statistic
s12
F
s22
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Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

H 0 :  12   22 s12
F
H a :  12   22 s22

Rejection Rule
Critical value approach: Reject H0 if F > Fa

where the value of Fa is based on an F distribution

with n1 - 1 (numerator) and n2 - 1 (denominator) d.f.

p-Value approach: Reject H0 if p-value < a

Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

Two-Tailed Test
Hypotheses
H0 : 12   22
Ha : 12  22

Population 1 with larger sample variance

Test Statistic
s12
F
s22
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Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

H0 : 12   22 s12
F
Ha : 12  22 s22

Rejection Rule
Critical value approach: Reject H0 if F > Fa/2

where the value of Fa/2 is based on an F distribution

with n1 - 1 (numerator) and n2 - 1 (denominator) d.f.

p-Value approach: Reject H0 if p-value < a

Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

Buyer’s Digest has conducted the two test, one
on 10 thermostats, manufactured by TempKing
and another on 10 thermostats, manufactured by
ThermoRite. The temperature readings of the
ten thermostats are listed as below.
Conduct a hypothesis test with a = 0.10 to see if
the variances are equal for TempKing’s
thermostats and ThermoRite’s thermostats.
Thermostat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
ThermoRite
Thermostat 67.4
1 67.8
2 68.2
3 69.3
4 69.5
5 67.0
6 68.1
7 68.6
8 67.9
9 67.2
10
TempKing 67.7 66.4 69.2 70.1 69.5 69.7 68.1 66.6 67.3 67.5
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Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

Buyer’s Digest has conducted the two test, one on 10 thermostats,
manufactured by TempKing and another on 10 thermostats, manufactured
by ThermoRite. The temperature readings of the ten thermostats are listed
as below.
Conduct a hypothesis test with a = 0.10 to see if the variances are equal for
TempKing’s thermostats and ThermoRite’s thermostats.

TempKing’s sample variance is 1.768

ThermoRite’s sample variance is 0.700

(TempKing and ThermoRite thermostats

H0 : 12   22 have the same temperature variance)

Ha : 12   22 (Their variances are not equal)

Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

Buyer’s Digest has conducted the two test, one on 10 thermostats,
manufactured by TempKing and another on 10 thermostats, manufactured
by ThermoRite. The temperature readings of the ten thermostats are listed
as below.
Conduct a hypothesis test with a = 0.10 to see if the variances are equal for
TempKing’s thermostats and ThermoRite’s thermostats.

H0 : 12   22 Ha : 12   22

Rejection Rule
The F distribution table (on next slide) shows that
with with a = 0.10, 9 d.f. (numerator), and 9 d.f.
(denominator), F0.05 = 3.18.
Reject H0 if F > 3.18 How???
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Hypothesis Test: Refering F Table

The F distribution table (on next slide) shows that
with with a = 0.10, 9 d.f. (numerator), and 9 d.f.
(denominator), F0.05 = 3.18.

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Hypothesis Test: Variances of Two Populations

Buyer’s Digest has conducted the two test, one on 10 thermostats,
manufactured by TempKing and another on 10 thermostats, manufactured
by ThermoRite. The temperature readings of the ten thermostats are listed
as below.
Conduct a hypothesis test with a = 0.10 to see if the variances are equal for
TempKing’s thermostats and ThermoRite’s thermostats.

H0 : 12   22 Ha : 12   22
TempKing’s sample variance is 1.768
ThermoRite’s sample variance is 0.700
s12
F = 1.768/0.700 = 2.53
s22
There is insufficient evidence to conclude that the
population variances differ for the two thermostat brands.
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Hypothesis Test:
2
Variances of Two Populations
s1
F = 1.768/0.700 = 2.53
s22
Area in Upper Tail .10 .05 .025 .01
F Value (df1 = 9, df2 = 9) 2.44 3.18 4.03 5.35

F = 2.53 is between 2.44 and 3.18, the area in the

upper tail of the distribution is between 0.10 and 0.05.

Since this is a two-tailed test; so doubling the upper-

tail area, the p-value is between 0.20 and 0.10.
Because a = 0.10, we have p-value > a and therefore
we cannot reject the null hypothesis.