[R] ANOVA: F value >1 or < 1

Rishabh Gupta rg117 at yahoo.co.uk
Thu Mar 20 19:30:57 CET 2003


Hello,
  I have a question regarding anova. I am a bit comfused about the F value. My understanding is
that the F value indicates the ability of numerical variable V to discriminate between different
values of grouping variable G. If the F value is equal or close to 1.0, it means that all the
variances of the groups are similar and that V is unable to discriminate for G. On the other hand
if the F value is far from 1.0, it suggests that the variances of the groups are different.
The issues that I am comfused about is F values of <1 vs >1. My understanding is that the values
are equal to their reciprocal as far as the discriminance is concerned. So 0.5 is equivalent to
1/0.5. Could somebody please tell me whether this is correct or not, or whether I have got it
completely wrong.
 Your help is greatly apprecited. Many Thanks

Rishabh



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