Whenever The Variances of Two Normal Populations Are Equal, The Sampling Distribution of The Ratio of The Two Sample Variances Is As Follows

Hypothesis Testing About the
Variances of Two Populations

 Whenever the variances of two normal populations
are equal , the sampling distribution of the ratio of
the two sample variances is as follows
© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

1
 F distribution is not symmetric,
 the F values can never be negative.
 The shape of any particular F distribution depends

 on its numerator and denominator degrees of freedom.
 Fα to denote the value of F that provides an area or

probability of α in the upper tail of the distribution

2
3
4
We begin with a test of the equality of two population
variances.
The hypotheses are stated as follows

5
Steps
 Draw sample from each population

 Find the variances
 Larger sample variance is taken as population 1
 A sample size of n1 and a sample variance of s1
correspond to population 1,
 A sample size of n2 and a sample variance of s2
correspond to population 1
 Based on the assumption that both populations have a

normal distribution, the ratio of sample variances provides
the following F test statistic.
 F test statistic is constructed with the larger sample
variance in the numerator, the value of the test
statistic will be in the upper tail of the F distribution.

7
 Two-Tailed Test
•Hypotheses
H 0 :  12   22
H a :  12   22
Denote the population providing the

larger sample variance as population 1.
•Test Statistic 2
s
F 1
s22

8
 Two-Tailed Test (continued)
•Rejection Rule
Critical value approach: Reject H0 if F > F/2
where the value of F/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 < 

9
 Example: Buyer’s Digest (C)
Buyer’s Digest has conducted the
Test on 10 thermostats, manufactured by TempKing.
The temperature readings of the ten
thermostats are listed on the next slide.
We will conduct a hypothesis test with  = .10 to see
if the variances are equal for ThermoRite’s thermostats
and TempKing’s thermostats.

10
 Example: Buyer’s Digest (C)
ThermoRite Sample
Thermostat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Temperature 67.4 67.8 68.2 69.3 69.5 67.0 68.1 68.6 67.9 67.2
TempKing Sample
Thermostat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Temperature 67.7 66.4 69.2 70.1 69.5 69.7 68.1 66.6 67.3 67.5

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 Hypotheses
H 0 :  12   22 (TempKing and ThermoRite thermostats
have the same temperature variance)
H a :  12   22 (Their variances are not equal)
 Rejection Rule
The F distribution table (on next slide) shows that with
with  = .10, 9 d.f. (numerator), and 9 d.f. (denominator),
F.05 = 3.18.
Reject H0 if F > 3.18

12
Selected Values from the F Distribution Table
Denominator Area in
Degrees Upper Numerator Degrees of Freedom
of Freedom Tail 7 8 9 10 15
8 .10 2.62 2.59 2.56 2.54 2.46
.05 3.50 3.44 3.39 3.35 3.22
.025 4.53 4.43 4.36 4.30 4.10
.01 6.18 6.03 5.91 5.81 5.52
9 .10 2.51 2.47 2.44 2.42 2.34

.05 3.29 3.23 3.18 3.14 3.01
.025 4.20 4.10 4.03 3.96 3.77
.01 5.61 5.47 5.35 5.26 4.96

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 Test Statistic
TempKing’s sample variance is 1.768
ThermoRite’s sample variance is .700
s12
F 2 = 1.768/.700 = 2.53
s
2
Conclusion
We cannot reject H0. F = 2.53 < F.05 = 3.18.
There is insufficient evidence to conclude that
the population variances differ for the two
thermostat brands.

14
 Determining and Using the p-Value
Area in Upper Tail .10 .05 .025 .01

F Value (df1 = 9, df2 = 9) 2.44 3.18 4.03 5.35
• Because F = 2.53 is between 2.44 and 3.18, the area

in the upper tail of the distribution is between .10
and .05.
• But this is a two-tailed test; after doubling the upper-
tail area, the p-value is between .20 and .10. (A precise
p-value can be found using Minitab or Excel.)
• Because  = .10, we have p-value >  and therefore
we cannot reject the null hypothesis.

15
 A sample of 26 arrival times for the Milbank service
provides a sample variance of 48 and a sample of 16
arrival times for the Gulf Park service provides a
sample variance of 20. Because the Milbank sample
provided the larger sample variance, we will denote
Milbank as population 1.

16
α = .10 as the level of significance, the
p-value < α = .10.
Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.

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 conclusion
 two bus services differ in terms of pickup/delivery
time variances.
 The recommendation is that the Dullus County
School administrators give special consideration to
the better or lower variance service offered by the
Gulf Park Company.

18
 One-tailed tests involving two population variances
are also possible.
 In this case, we use the F distribution to determine

whether one population variance is significantly
greater than the other.
 A one-tailed hypothesis test about two population

variances will always be formulated as an upper tail
test:

19
 One-Tailed Test
•Hypotheses
H 0 :  12   22
H a :  12   22
Denote the population providing the

larger sample variance as population 1.
•Test Statistic
s12
F
s22

20
 One-Tailed Test (continued)
•Rejection Rule
Critical value approach: Reject H0 if F > F
where the value of F is based on an

F distribution with n1 - 1 (numerator)
and n2 - 1 (denominator) d.f.
p-Value approach: Reject H0 if p-value < 

21
22

Whenever The Variances of Two Normal Populations Are Equal, The Sampling Distribution of The Ratio of The Two Sample Variances Is As Follows

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Whenever The Variances of Two Normal Populations Are Equal, The Sampling Distribution of The Ratio of The Two Sample Variances Is As Follows

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Hypothesis Testing About the

Variances of Two Populations

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

 the F values can never be negative.

 The shape of any particular F distribution depends

 Fα to denote the value of F that provides an area or

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

 Draw sample from each population

 Based on the assumption that both populations have a

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

Denote the population providing the

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

where the value of F/2 is based on an

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

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

9 .10 2.51 2.47 2.44 2.42 2.34

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

Area in Upper Tail .10 .05 .025 .01

• Because F = 2.53 is between 2.44 and 3.18, the area

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

 In this case, we use the F distribution to determine

 A one-tailed hypothesis test about two population

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

Denote the population providing the

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

where the value of F is based on an

© 2008 Thomson South-Western. All Rights Reserved Slide

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