A stockbroker at Critical Securities reported that the mean rate of return on a sample of 10 oil stocks was 12.6% with a standard deviation of 3.9%. The mean rate of return on a sample of 8 utility stocks was 10.9% with a standard deviation of 3.5%. At the .05 significance level, can we conclude that there is more variation in the oil stocks?

a. State the null and alternate hypotheses.

b. State the decision rule.

c. Compute the value of the test statistic.

d. Compute the p-value.

e. What is your decision regarding H0?

f. Interpret the result.