Among the test to show differences between means, the Student t test is the most characteristic. Its basic algebraic structure shows the difference between two means weighted by their dispersion. In this way, you can estimate the p value and the 95 % confidence interval of the mean difference. An essential feature is that the variable from which the mean is going to be calculated must have a normal distribution. The Student t test is used to compare two unrelated means (compared between two maneuvers), this is known as t test for independent samples. It is also used to compare two related means (a comparison before and after a maneuver in just one group), what is called paired t test. When the comparison is between more than two means (three or more dependent means, or three or more independent means) an ANOVA test (or an analysis of variance) it is used to perform the analysis.