ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper was to outline the analysis of variance. Analysis of variance was a very important branch of statistics with rich contents and wide applicability. This paper summarized the analysis of variance from the following four aspects. Firstly， the basic concepts related to the analysis of variance. Secondly， the mathematical fundamentals of the analysis of variance， the F distribution. Thirdly， the application of the analysis of variance in the difference tests. Fourthly， the basic idea of the analysis of variance based on the comparison of means. In the first aspect， the definition， nature， meaning and contents of variance were mainly introduced. In the second aspect， the definition and nature of the F distribution were mainly introduced. In the third aspect， the analysis of variance in three kinds of application， namely the mean comparisons， the variance comparisons and the linear regression model evaluation were mainly introduced. In the fourth aspect， the core contents of the analysis of variance was the decomposition of the sum of squares of the total deviation from the mean and the construction of the test statistic F.