Inferential Statistics-Tests of Significance- Analysis of Variance- F ratio

The F-ratio is a measure of how much variability within a data set is explained by a separate factor that is not present in the entire data set. This method is used to compare two or more means of a given data set. The F-ratio is calculated by dividing the variance between groups by the variance within groups (also known as the error term). The value of the F-ratio indicates how large the variability of the means is relative to the variability within the group. The larger the F-ratio, the more variability is explained by the factor under consideration and the more probable it is that the results are significant.