Analysis of variance (ANOVA) — developed by Ronald Fisher — is a collection of statistical models used to analyze the differences among group means and their associated procedures (such as "variation" among and between groups).
In the ANOVA setting, the observed variance in a particular variable is partitioned into components attributable to different sources of variation. In its simplest form, ANOVA provides a statistical test of whether or not the means of several groups are equal, and therefore generalizes the t-test to more than two groups.
ANOVAs are useful for comparing (testing) three or more means (groups or variables) for statistical significance. It is conceptually similar to multiple two-sample t-tests, but is less conservative (results in less type I error) and is therefore suited to a wide range of practical problems.