Returns the (right-tailed) F probability distribution (degree of diversity) for two data sets. 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.
Important: This function has been replaced with one or more new functions that may provide improved accuracy and whose names better reflect their usage. Although this function is still available for backward compatibility, you should consider using the new functions from now on, because this function may not be available in future versions of Excel.
For more information about the new functions, see F.DIST function and F.DIST.RT function.
Syntax
FDIST(x,deg_freedom1,deg_freedom2)
The FDIST function syntax has the following arguments:
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X Required. The value at which to evaluate the function.
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Deg_freedom1 Required. The numerator degrees of freedom.
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Deg_freedom2 Required. The denominator degrees of freedom.
Remarks
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If any argument is nonnumeric, FDIST returns the #VALUE! error value.
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If x is negative, FDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
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If deg_freedom1 or deg_freedom2 is not an integer, it is truncated.
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If deg_freedom1 < 1 or deg_freedom1 ≥ 10^10, FDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
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If deg_freedom2 < 1 or deg_freedom2 ≥ 10^10, FDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
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FDIST is calculated as FDIST=P( F>x ), where F is a random variable that has an F distribution with deg_freedom1 and deg_freedom2 degrees of freedom.
Example
Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.
|
Data |
Description |
|
|
15.20686486 |
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 in A2, A3, and A4. |
0.01 |
