13.3: The F Distribution and the F-Ratio (2024)

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    The distribution used for the hypothesis test is a new one. It is called the \(F\) distribution, named after Sir Ronald Fisher, an English statistician. The \(F\) statistic is a ratio (a fraction). There are two sets of degrees of freedom; one for the numerator and one for the denominator.

    For example, if \(F\) follows an \(F\) distribution and the number of degrees of freedom for the numerator is four, and the number of degrees of freedom for the denominator is ten, then \(F \sim F_{4,10}\).

    The \(F\) distribution is derived from the Student's \(t\)-distribution. The values of the \(F\) distribution are squares of the corresponding values of the \(t\)-distribution. One-Way ANOVA expands the \(t\)-test for comparing more than two groups. The scope of that derivation is beyond the level of this course.

    To calculate the \(F\) ratio, two estimates of the variance are made.

    1. Variance between samples: An estimate of \(\sigma^{2}\) that is the variance of the sample means multiplied by \(n\) (when the sample sizes are the same.). If the samples are different sizes, the variance between samples is weighted to account for the different sample sizes. The variance is also called variation due to treatment or explained variation.
    2. Variance within samples: An estimate of \(\sigma^{2}\) that is the average of the sample variances (also known as a pooled variance). When the sample sizes are different, the variance within samples is weighted. The variance is also called the variation due to error or unexplained variation.
    • \(SS_{\text{between}} = \text{the sum of squares that represents the variation among the different samples}\)
    • \(SS_{\text{within}} = \text{the sum of squares that represents the variation within samples that is due to chance}\).

    To find a "sum of squares" means to add together squared quantities that, in some cases, may be weighted. We used sum of squares to calculate the sample variance and the sample standard deviation in discussed previously.

    \(MS\) means "mean square." \(MS_{\text{between}}\) is the variance between groups, and \(MS_{\text{within}}\) is the variance within groups.

    Calculation of Sum of Squares and Mean Square
    • \(k =\) the number of different groups
    • \(n_{j} =\) the size of the \(j^{th}\) group}
    • \(s_{j} =\) the sum of the values in the \(j^{th}\) group
    • \(n =\) total number of all the values combined (total sample size): \[n= \sum n_{j}\]
    • \(x =\) one value: \[\sum x = \sum s_{j}\]
    • Sum of squares of all values from every group combined: \[\sum x^{2}\]
    • Between group variability: \[SS_{\text{total}} = \sum x^{2} - \dfrac{\left(\sum x^{2}\right)}{n}\]
    • Total sum of squares: \[\sum x^{2} - \dfrac{\left(\sum x\right)^{2}}{n}\]
    • Explained variation: sum of squares representing variation among the different samples: \[SS_{\text{between}} = \sum \left[\dfrac{(s_{j})^{2}}{n_{j}}\right] - \dfrac{\left(\sum s_{j}\right)^{2}}{n}\]
    • Unexplained variation: sum of squares representing variation within samples due to chance: \[SS_{\text{within}} = SS_{\text{total}} - SS_{\text{between}}\]
    • \(df\)'s for different groups (\(df\)'s for the numerator): \[df = k - 1\]
    • Equation for errors within samples (\(df\)'s for the denominator): \[df_{\text{within}} = n - k\]
    • Mean square (variance estimate) explained by the different groups: \[MS_{\text{between}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{between}}}{df_{\text{between}}}\]
    • Mean square (variance estimate) that is due to chance (unexplained): \[MS_{\text{within}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{within}}}{df_{\text{within}}}\]

    \(MS_{\text{between}}\) and \(MS_{\text{within}}\) can be written as follows:

    \[MS_{\text{between}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{between}}}{df_{\text{between}}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{between}}}{k - 1}\]

    \[MS_{\text{within}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{within}}}{df_{\text{within}}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{within}}}{n - k}\]

    The one-way ANOVA test depends on the fact that \(MS_{\text{between}}\) can be influenced by population differences among means of the several groups. Since \(MS_{\text{within}}\) compares values of each group to its own group mean, the fact that group means might be different does not affect \(MS_{\text{within}}\).

    The null hypothesis says that all groups are samples from populations having the same normal distribution. The alternate hypothesis says that at least two of the sample groups come from populations with different normal distributions. If the null hypothesis is true, \(MS_{\text{between}}\) and \(MS_{\text{within}}\) should both estimate the same value.

    The null hypothesis says that all the group population means are equal. The hypothesis of equal means implies that the populations have the same normal distribution, because it is assumed that the populations are normal and that they have equal variances.

    \(F\)-Ratio or \(F\) Statistic

    \[F = \dfrac{MS_{\text{between}}}{MS_{\text{within}}}\]

    If \(MS_{\text{between}}\) and \(MS_{\text{within}}\) estimate the same value (following the belief that \(H_{0}\) is true), then the \(F\)-ratio should be approximately equal to one. Mostly, just sampling errors would contribute to variations away from one. As it turns out, \(MS_{\text{between}}\) consists of the population variance plus a variance produced from the differences between the samples. \(MS_{\text{within}}\) is an estimate of the population variance. Since variances are always positive, if the null hypothesis is false, \(MS_{\text{between}}\) will generally be larger than \(MS_{\text{within}}\).Then the \(F\)-ratio will be larger than one. However, if the population effect is small, it is not unlikely that \(MS_{\text{within}}\) will be larger in a given sample.

    The foregoing calculations were done with groups of different sizes. If the groups are the same size, the calculations simplify somewhat and the \(F\)-ratio can be written as:

    \(F\)-Ratio Formula when the groups are the same size

    \[F = \dfrac{n \cdot s_{\bar{x}}^{2}}{s^{2}_{\text{pooled}}}\]

    where ...

    • \(n = \text{the sample size}\)
    • \(df_{\text{numerator}} = k - 1\)
    • \(df_{\text{denominator}} = n - k\)
    • \(s^{2}_{\text{pooled}} = \text{the mean of the sample variances (pooled variance)}\)
    • \(s_{\bar{x}^{2}} = \text{the variance of the sample means}\)

    Data are typically put into a table for easy viewing. One-Way ANOVA results are often displayed in this manner by computer software.

    Source of Variation Sum of Squares (\(SS\)) Degrees of Freedom (\(df\)) Mean Square (\(MS\)) \(F\)

    Factor

    (Between)

    \(SS(\text{Factor})\) \(k - 1\) \(MS(\text{Factor}) = \dfrac{SS(\text{Factor})}{(k - 1)}\) \(F = \dfrac{MS(\text{Factor})}{MS(\text{Error})}\)

    Error

    (Within)

    \(SS(\text{Error})\) \(n - k\) \(MS(\text{Error}) = \dfrac{SS(\text{Error})}{(n - k)}\)
    Total \(SS(\text{Total})\) \(n - 1\)
    Example \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    Three different diet plans are to be tested for mean weight loss. The entries in the table are the weight losses for the different plans. The one-way ANOVA results are shown in Table.

    Plan 1: \(n_{1} = 4\) Plan 2: \(n_{2} = 3\) Plan 3: \(n_{3} = 3\)
    5 3.5 8
    4.5 7 4
    4 3.5
    3 4.5

    \[s_{1} = 16.5, s_{2} =15, s_{3} = 15.7\]

    Following are the calculations needed to fill in the one-way ANOVA table. The table is used to conduct a hypothesis test.

    \[\begin{align} SS(\text{between}) &= \sum \left[\dfrac{(s_{j})^{2}}{n_{j}}\right] - \dfrac{\left(\sum s_{j}\right)^{2}}{n} \\ &= \dfrac{s^{2}_{1}}{4} + \dfrac{s^{2}_{2}}{3} + \dfrac{s^{2}_{3}}{3} + \dfrac{(s_{1} + s_{2} + s_{3})^{2}}{10} \end{align}\]

    where \(n_{1} = 4, n_{2} = 3, n_{3} = 3\) and \(n = n_{1} + n_{2} + n_{3} = 10\) so

    \[\begin{align} SS(\text{between}) &= \dfrac{(16.5)^{2}}{4} + \dfrac{(15)^{2}}{3} + \dfrac{(5.5)^{2}}{3} = \dfrac{(16.5 + 15 + 15.5)^{2}}{10} \\ &= 2.2458 \end{align}\]

    \[\begin{align} S(\text{total}) =& \sum x^{2} - \dfrac{\left(\sum x\right)^{2}}{n} \\ =& (5^{2} + 4.5^{2} + 4^{2} + 3^{2} + 3.5^{2} + 7^{2} + 4.5^{2} + 8^{2} + 4^{2} + 3.5^{2}) \\ &− \dfrac{(5 + 4.5 + 4 + 3 + 3.5 + 7 + 4.5 + 8 + 4 + 3.5)^{2}}{10} \\ =& 244 - \dfrac{47^{2}}{10} = 244 - 220.9 \\ =& 23.1 \end{align}\]

    \[\begin{align} SS(\text{within}) &= SS(\text{total}) - SS(\text{between}) \\ &= 23.1 - 2.2458 \\ &= 20.8542 \end{align}\]

    One-Way ANOVA Table: The formulas for \(SS(\text{Total})\), \(SS(\text{Factor}) = SS(\text{Between})\) and \(SS(\text{Error}) = SS(\text{Within})\) as shown previously. The same information is provided by the TI calculator hypothesis test function ANOVA in STAT TESTS (syntax is \(ANOVA(L1, L2, L3)\) where \(L1, L2, L3\) have the data from Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 3 respectively).

    Source of Variation Sum of Squares (\(SS\)) Degrees of Freedom (\(df\)) Mean Square (\(MS\)) \(F\)
    Factor
    (Between)
    \(SS(\text{Factor}) = SS(\text{Between}) = 2.2458\) \(k - 1= 3 \text{ groups} - 1 = 2\) \(MS(\text{Factor}) = \dfrac{SS(\text{Factor})}{(k– 1)} = \dfrac{2.2458}{2} = 1.1229\) \(F = \dfrac{MS(\text{Factor})}{MS(\text{Error})} = \dfrac{1.1229}{2.9792} = 0.3769\)
    Error
    (Within)
    \(SS(\text{Error}) = SS(\text{Within}) = 20.8542\) \(n – k = 10 \text{ total data} - 3 \text{ groups} = 7\) \(MS(\text{Error})) = \dfrac{SS(\text{Error})}{(n– k)} = \dfrac{20.8542}{7} = 2.9792\)
    Total \(SS(\text{Total}) = 2.2458 + 20.8542 = 23.1\) \(n - 1 = 10 \text{ total data} - 1 = 9\)
    Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    As part of an experiment to see how different types of soil cover would affect slicing tomato production, Marist College students grew tomato plants under different soil cover conditions. Groups of three plants each had one of the following treatments

    • bare soil
    • a commercial ground cover
    • black plastic
    • straw
    • compost

    All plants grew under the same conditions and were the same variety. Students recorded the weight (in grams) of tomatoes produced by each of the \(n = 15\) plants:

    Bare: \(n_{1} = 3\) Ground Cover: \(n_{2} = 3\) Plastic: \(n_{3} = 3\) Straw: \(n_{4} = 3\) Compost: \(n_{5} = 3\)
    2,625 5,348 6,583 7,285 6,277
    2,997 5,682 8,560 6,897 7,818
    4,915 5,482 3,830 9,230 8,677

    Create the one-way ANOVA table.

    Answer

    Enter the data into lists L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5. Press STAT and arrow over to TESTS. Arrow down to ANOVA. Press ENTER and enter L1, L2, L3, L4, L5). Press ENTER. The table was filled in with the results from the calculator.

    One-Way ANOVA table
    Source of Variation Sum of Squares (\(SS\)) Degrees of Freedom (\(df\)) Mean Square (\(MS\)) \(F\)
    Factor (Between) 36,648,561 \(5 - 1 = 4\) \(\dfrac{36,648,561}{4} = 9,162,140\) \(\dfrac{9,162,140}{2,044,672.6} = 4.4810\)
    Error (Within) 20,446,726 \(15 - 5 = 10\) \(\dfrac{20,446,726}{10} = 2,044,672.6\)
    Total 57,095,287 \(15 - 1 = 14\)

    The one-way ANOVA hypothesis test is always right-tailed because larger \(F\)-values are way out in the right tail of the \(F\)-distribution curve and tend to make us reject \(H_{0}\).

    Notation

    The notation for the \(F\) distribution is \(F \sim F{df(\text{num}),df(\text{denom})}\)

    where \(df(\text{num}) = df_{between} and df(\text{denom}) = df_{within}\)

    The mean for the \(F\) distribution is \(\mu = \dfrac{df(\text{num})}{df(\text{denom}) - 1}\)

    References

    1. Tomato Data, Marist College School of Science (unpublished student research)

    Review

    Analysis of variance compares the means of a response variable for several groups. ANOVA compares the variation within each group to the variation of the mean of each group. The ratio of these two is the \(F\) statistic from an \(F\) distribution with (number of groups – 1) as the numerator degrees of freedom and (number of observations – number of groups) as the denominator degrees of freedom. These statistics are summarized in the ANOVA table.

    Formula Review

    \(SS_{between} = \sum \left[\dfrac{(s_{j})^{2}}{n_{j}}\right] - \dfrac{\left(\sum s_{j}\right)^{2}}{n}\)

    \(SS_{\text{total}} = \sum x^{2} - \dfrac{\left(\sum x\right)^{2}}{n}\)

    \(SS_{\text{within}} = SS_{\text{total}} - SS_{\text{between}}\)

    \(df_{\text{between}} = df(\text{num}) = k - 1\)

    \(df_{\text{within}} = df(\text{denom}) = n - k\)

    \(MS_{\text{between}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{between}}}{df_{\text{between}}}\)

    \(MS_{\text{within}} = \dfrac{SS_{\text{within}}}{df_{\text{within}}}\)

    \(F = \dfrac{MS_{\text{between}}}{MS_{\text{within}}}\)

    \(F\) ratio when the groups are the same size: \(F = \dfrac{ns_{\bar{x}}^{2}}{s^{2}_{\text{pooled}}}\)

    Mean of the \(F\) distribution: \(\mu = \dfrac{df(\text{num})}{df(\text{denom}) - 1}\)

    where:

    • \(k =\) the number of groups
    • \(n_{j} =\) the size of the \(j^{th}\) group
    • \(s_{j} =\) the sum of the values in the \(j^{th}\) group
    • \(n =\) the total number of all values (observations) combined
    • \(x =\) one value (one observation) from the data
    • \(s_{\bar{x}}^{2} =\) the variance of the sample means
    • \(s^{2}_{\text{pooled}} =\) the mean of the sample variances (pooled variance)

    Contributors and Attributions

    Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean (De Anza College) with many other contributing authors. Content produced by OpenStax College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 license. Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/30189442-699...b91b9de@18.114.

    13.3: The F Distribution and the F-Ratio (2024)

    FAQs

    13.3: The F Distribution and the F-Ratio? ›

    The F statistic is a ratio (a fraction). There are two sets of degrees of freedom; one for the numerator and one for the denominator. For example, if F follows an F distribution and the number of degrees of freedom for the numerator is four, and the number of degrees of freedom for the denominator is ten, then F∼F4,10.

    How do you calculate the F ratio? ›

    We calculate the F-ratio by dividing the Mean of Squares Between (MSB) by the Mean of Squares Within (MSW). The calculated F-ratio is then compared to the F-value obtained from an F-table with the corresponding alpha.

    What does the F test F ratio measure? ›

    F-tests are named after its test statistic, F, which was named in honor of Sir Ronald Fisher. The F-statistic is simply a ratio of two variances. Variances are a measure of dispersion, or how far the data are scattered from the mean. Larger values represent greater dispersion.

    What is a normal F ratio? ›

    The F ratio is the ratio of two mean square values. If the null hypothesis is true, you expect F to have a value close to 1.0 most of the time. A large F ratio means that the variation among group means is more than you'd expect to see by chance.

    What is the formula for the F-distribution? ›

    5 The F Distribution

    Then, the ratio F = ( V / υ 1 ) / ( W / υ 2 ) is an F distribution with ν1 d.f. in the numerator and ν2 d.f. in the denominator. It is usually abbreviated as F ν 1 , ν 2 .

    What is the F-distribution and the F ratio? ›

    The distribution used for the hypothesis test is a new one. It is called the F distribution, invented by George Snedecor but named in honor of Sir Ronald Fisher, an English statistician. The F statistic is a ratio (a fraction). There are two sets of degrees of freedom; one for the numerator and one for the denominator.

    What is the ratio F? ›

    F-Ratio or F Statistic

    MSwithin is an estimate of the population variance. Since variances are always positive, if the null hypothesis is false, MSbetween will generally be larger than MSwithin. Then the F-ratio will be larger than one.

    What does the F ratio tell us? ›

    The statistical test to use to compare variance is called the F -ratio test (or the variance ratio test) and compares two variances in order to test whether they come from the same populations.

    How do you calculate the F-test? ›

    The F-test is a type of hypothesis testing that uses the F-statistic to analyze data variance in two samples or populations. The F-statistic, or F-value, is calculated as follows: F = σ 1 σ 2 , or Variance 1/Variance 2. Hypothesis testing of variance relies directly upon the F-distribution data for its comparisons.

    What is a good F-test value? ›

    A general rule of thumb that is often used in regression analysis is that if F > 2.5 then we can reject the null hypothesis. We would conclude that there is a least one parameter value that is nonzero.

    What is the critical F ratio? ›

    Critical F: The value of the F-statistic at the threshold probability α of mistakenly rejecting a true null hypothesis (the critical Type-I error).

    What does an F ratio of 1 mean? ›

    A value of F=1 means that no matter what significance level we use for the test, we will conclude that the two variances are equal.

    What does F distribution tell us? ›

    The F-distribution, also known Fisher-Snedecor distribution, is extensively used to test for equality of variances from two normal populations. F-distribution got its name after R.A. Fisher, who initially developed this concept in the 1920s. It is a probability distribution of an F-Statistic.

    What is F in normal distribution? ›

    The Normal Distribution is defined by the probability density function for a continuous random variable in a system. Let us say, f(x) is the probability density function and X is the random variable.

    What is the limit of the F distribution? ›

    The F distribution is an asymmetric distribution that has a minimum value of 0, but no maximum value. The curve reaches a peak not far to the right of 0, and then gradually approaches the horizontal axis the larger the F value is. The F distribution approaches, but never quite touches the horizontal axis.

    What is the formula for calculating F? ›

    The F-statistic, or F-value, is calculated as follows: F = σ 1 σ 2 , or Variance 1/Variance 2. Hypothesis testing of variance relies directly upon the F-distribution data for its comparisons.

    How to calculate f ratio in two-way ANOVA? ›

    F ratio. Each F ratio is computed by dividing the MS value by another MS value. The MS value for the denominator depends on the experimental design. For two-way ANOVA with no repeated measures: The denominator MS value is always the MSresidual.

    How do you calculate the F ratio of a telescope? ›

    The focal ratio (or f-number) is another crucial concept. It's calculated by dividing the focal length of a telescope by its aperture diameter: Focal Ratio = Focal Length / Aperture Diameter.

    What is the formula for ratios? ›

    Ratios compare two numbers, usually by dividing them. If you are comparing one data point (A) to another data point (B), your formula would be A/B. This means you are dividing information A by information B. For example, if A is five and B is 10, your ratio will be 5/10.

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