To avoid the problem of not having access to tables of the F distribution with values given for the lower tail when a two-tailed test is required, let the smaller sample variance be _____.
A) the denominator of the test statistic
B) the numerator of the test statistic
C) at least 1
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Letting the smaller sample variance be the denominator of the test statistic ensures that the F value computed for the test will always be greater than 1, which allows us to use the tables of the F distribution for the upper tail (where values are given) and simply divide the result by 2 to obtain the p-value for the two-tailed test. This avoids the need to look up values for the lower tail separately.

To Avoid the Problem of Not Having Access to Tables