The deviate,
, associated with the lower tail probability
of the
-distribution with
degrees of freedom is defined as the solution to
The required
is found by using the relationship between a
-distribution and a gamma distribution, i.e., a
-distribution with
degrees of freedom is equal to a gamma distribution with scale parameter
and shape parameter
.
For very large values of
, greater than
, Wilson and Hilferty's Normal approximation to the
is used; see
Kendall and Stuart (1969).
The input arrays to this routine are designed to allow maximum flexibility in the supply of vector arguments by re-using elements of any arrays that are shorter than the total number of evaluations required. See
Section 2.6 in the
G01 Chapter Introduction for further information.
Best D J and Roberts D E (1975) Algorithm AS 91. The percentage points of the distribution Appl. Statist. 24 385–388
If on entry
or
, explanatory error messages are output on the current error message unit (as defined by
x04aaf).
The results should be accurate to five significant digits for most argument values. Some accuracy is lost for close to or .
For higher accuracy the relationship described in
Section 3 may be used and a direct call to
g01tff made.