FDIST

Microsoft Office Excel 2003

See Also

Returns the F probability distribution. You can use this function to determine whether two data sets have different degrees of diversity. For example, you can examine the test scores of men and women entering high school and determine if the variability in the females is different from that found in the males.

Syntax

FDIST(x,degrees_freedom1,degrees_freedom2)

X    is the value at which to evaluate the function.

Degrees_freedom1    is the numerator degrees of freedom.

Degrees_freedom2    is the denominator degrees of freedom.

Remarks

  • If any argument is nonnumeric, FDIST returns the #VALUE! error value.
  • If x is negative, FDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
  • If degrees_freedom1 or degrees_freedom2 is not an integer, it is truncated.
  • If degrees_freedom1 < 1 or degrees_freedom1 ≥ 10^10, FDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
  • If degrees_freedom2 < 1 or degrees_freedom2 ≥ 10^10, FDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
  • FDIST is calculated as FDIST=P( F>x ), where F is a random variable that has an F distribution with degrees_freedom1 and degrees_freedom2 degrees of freedom.

Example

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

ShowHow?

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

    Selecting an example from Help

    Selecting an example from Help

  3. Press CTRL+C.
  4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
  5. 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
Data Description
15.20675 Value at which to evaluate the function
6 Numerator degrees of freedom
4 Denominator degrees of freedom
Formula Description (Result)
=FDIST(A2,A3,A4) F probability distribution for the terms above (0.01)