BIOLOGY PROBLEM PAPER APPENDIX

APPENDIX
Potentially useful statistical and mathematical information.
0.001 km = 1 m = 100 cm = 1000 mm = 1000000 m
0.001 t (tonne) = 1 kg = 1000 g = 1000000 mg = 1000000000 g
1 kg = 103 g = 106 mg
1 hectare = 100 m x 100 m
1 litre (l) = 103 ml
1 million = 1000000 = 106

Common prefixes for SI units

giga (G) = 109
mega (M) = 106
kilo (k) = 103
milli (m) = 10-3
micro () = 10-6

Median = middle value (50%) in a ranked list.

Interquartile range = range between values at 25% and 75% in a ranked list.

Mean = average =

x
n

where n = sample size, x is an observation, indicates summation.

Variance = sum of squared deviations from the mean = s 2

Standard deviation = square root of variance = s

( x ) 2 / n
n 1

( x) 2 / n
n 1

[NOTE should be divided by n rather than n-1 if the entire population is recorded]

BIOLOGY PROBLEM PAPER APPENDIX

Standard error of the mean =

s2
n

Coefficient of variation (CV) is the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean:
CV = s / mean
The coefficient of variation is a dimensionless number that allows comparison of the
variation of populations that have different means. It is often reported as a percentage
by multiplying the above value by 100.

Confidence limits of the mean =

x t n 1

ii

s
n

BIOLOGY PROBLEM PAPER APPENDIX

Students t-test:

x1 x 2
(n1 1) s12 (n2 1) s 22 n1 n2

n1 n2 2

n1 n2

or, if n1 = n2 ( = n),

x1 x 2

1 2
s1 s 22
n

degrees of freedom = n1 + n2 - 2
where n = sample size and s = standard deviation

Critical values of the t-distribution

For one-tail tests:
For two-tail tests:
1 d.f.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

= 0.05
= 0.1
6.314
2.920
2.353
2.132
2.015
1.943
1.895
1.860
1.833
1.812
1.796
1.782
1.771
1.761
1.753
1.746
1.740
1.734
1.729
1.725

= 0.025
= 0.05
12.706
4.303
3.182
2.776
2.571
2.447
2.365
2.306
2.262
2.228
2.201
2.179
2.160
2.145
2.131
2.120
2.110
2.101
2.093
2.086

iii

= 0.01
= 0.02
31.821
6.965
4.541
3.747
3.365
3.143
2.998
2.896
2.821
2.764
2.718
2.681
2.650
2.624
2.602
2.583
2.567
2.552
2.539
2.528

= 0.005
= 0.01
63.657
9.925
5.841
4.604
4.032
3.707
3.499
3.355
3.250
3.169
3.106
3.055
3.012
2.977
2.947
2.921
2.898
2.878
2.861
2.845

BIOLOGY PROBLEM PAPER APPENDIX

Chi-square test:

observed expected 2
expected

Contingency table: degrees of freedom = (no. of rows 1)(no. of columns 1)

Goodness-of-fit: degrees of freedom = no. of catagories 1

Critical values of the chi-square distribution

d.f.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

= 0.1
2.706
4.605
6.251
7.779
9.236
10.645
12.017
13.362
14.684
15.987
17.275
18.549
19.812
21.064
22.307
23.542
24.769
25.989
27.204
28.412

= 0.05
3.841
5.991
7.815
9.488
11.070
12.592
14.067
15.507
16.919
18.307
19.675
21.026
22.362
23.685
24.996
26.296
27.587
28.869
30.144
31.410

= 0.025
5.024
7.378
9.348
11.143
12.832
14.449
16.013
17.535
19.023
20.483
21.920
23.337
24.736
26.119
27.488
28.845
30.191
31.526
32.852
34.170

iv

= 0.01
6.635
9.210
11.345
13.277
15.086
16.812
18.475
20.090
21.666
23.209
24.725
26.217
27.688
29.141
30.578
32.000
33.409
34.805
36.191
37.566

BIOLOGY PROBLEM PAPER APPENDIX

Pearson correlation coefficient, r:

r

y y ( y )( y ) / n
y ( y ) / n y ( y
1

)2 / n

where y1 is a value in variable 1 and y2 a value in variable 2. So y1 y2 is the sum of

the product of each pair of observations. The value of r can range from 1 to +1.

Critical values of the correlation coefficient, r

For one-tail tests:
For two-tail tests:
1 d.f.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

= 0.05
= 0.1
0.988
0.900
0.805
0.729
0.669
0.621
0.582
0.549
0.521
0.497
0.476
0.457
0.441
0.426
0.412
0.400
0.389
0.378
0.369
0.360

= 0.025
= 0.05
0.997
0.950
0.878
0.811
0.755
0.707
0.666
0.632
0.602
0.576
0.553
0.532
0.514
0.497
0.482
0.468
0.456
0.444
0.433
0.423

= 0.01
= 0.02
1.000
0.980
0.934
0.882
0.833
0.789
0.750
0.715
0.685
0.658
0.634
0.612
0.592
0.574
0.558
0.542
0.529
0.515
0.503
0.492

= 0.005
= 0.01
1.000
0.990
0.959
0.917
0.875
0.834
0.798
0.765
0.735
0.708
0.684
0.661
0.641
0.623
0.606
0.590
0.575
0.561
0.549
0.537

BIOLOGY PROBLEM PAPER APPENDIX

Linear regression coefficient, b:

xy x y n
x x n
2

where n = the number of pairs of observations.

The variance of b is:
2

xy x y n
1
2

2
s
y y n

2
2
n2

x
n

To test whether b is significantly different from a hypothetical value, , calculate:

t
s

x 2 x n
2

with n 2 degrees of freedom

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BIOLOGY PROBLEM PAPER APPENDIX

Critical values of the F-distribution

=
0.05 0.01 0.05 0.01 0.05
Numerator degrees of freedom
Denominator
1
1
2
2
3
d.f.
5
6.61 16.26 5.79 13.27 5.41
6
5.99 13.75 5.14 10.92 4.76
7
5.59 12.25 4.74 9.55 4.35
8
5.32 11.26 4.46 8.65 4.07
9
5.12 10.56 4.26 8.02 3.86
10
4.96 10.04 4.10 7.56 3.71
15
4.54 8.68 3.68 6.36 3.29
20
4.35 8.10 3.49 5.85 3.10
25
4.24 7.77 3.39 5.57 2.99
30
4.17 7.56 3.32 5.39 2.92
40
4.08 7.31 3.23 5.18 2.84
50
4.03 7.17 3.18 5.06 2.79
100
3.94 6.90 3.09 4.82 2.70
1000
3.85 6.66 3.00 4.63 2.61

0.01

0.05

0.01

0.05

0.01

10

10

12.06
9.78
8.45
7.59
6.99
6.55
5.42
4.94
4.68
4.51
4.31
4.20
3.98
3.80

5.05
4.39
3.97
3.69
3.48
3.33
2.90
2.71
2.60
2.53
2.45
2.40
2.31
2.22

10.97
8.75
7.46
6.63
6.06
5.64
4.56
4.10
3.85
3.70
3.51
3.41
3.21
3.04

4.74
4.06
3.64
3.35
3.14
2.98
2.54
2.35
2.24
2.16
2.08
2.03
1.93
1.84

10.05
7.87
6.62
5.81
5.26
4.85
3.80
3.37
3.13
2.98
2.80
2.70
2.50
2.34

Example:
Imagine a sample of 44 observations taken from four groups. The model would have
three degrees of freedom (numerator d.f.) and there would be 40 in the residual
(denominator d.f.). The critical values of F to reject the null hypothesis would be
2.84 at = 0.05 and 4.31 at = 0.01.

vii