We shall now consider a problem in which random samples are available from two normal distributions with common unknown variance, and it is desired to determine which distribution has the larger mean. Specifically, we shall assume that the variables … form a random sample of … observations form a normal distribution for which both the mean … and the variance … are unknown; and that the variables … form an independent random sample of … observations from another normal distribution for which both the mean … and the variance … are unknown. We shall of … is unknown. If this final assumption seems unwarranted, the two – sample … test would not be appropriate. A different test procedure is discussed later in this section for the case in which the two populations might have different variances. In Section 8.7, we discuss some procedures for comparing the variances of two normal distributions, which includes testing the hypothesis that the variances are the same.