FTEST

See Also

Returns the result of an F-test. An F-test returns the one-tailed probability that the variances in array1 and array2 are not significantly different. Use this function to determine whether two samples have different variances. For example, given test scores from public and private schools, you can test whether these schools have different levels of test score diversity.

Syntax

FTEST(array1,array2)

Array1 is the first array or range of data.

Array2 is the second array or range of data.

Remarks

The arguments must be either numbers or names, arrays, or references that contain numbers.
If an array or reference argument contains text, logical values, or empty cells, those values are ignored; however, cells with the value zero are included.
If the number of data points in array1 or array2 is less than 2, or if the variance of array1 or array2 is zero, FTEST returns the #DIV/0! error value.

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

How?

Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic. Do not select the row or column headers.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.

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A	B
Data1	Data2
6	20
7	28
9	31
15	38
21	40
Formula	Description (Result)
=FTEST(A2:A6,B2:B6)	F-test for the data sets above (0.648318)